1. And he brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, facing east. And it was shut.
2. And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut; it will not be opened. And a man shall not enter by it, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered by it; so it shall be shut.
3. As for the prince, as prince he shall sit in it to eat bread before Jehovah. He shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and by his way shall go out.
4. And he brought me by the way of the north gate, to the face of the house. And I looked, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of the Lord! And I fell on my face.
5. And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, set your heart and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you of all the statutes of the house of Jehovah, and of all its laws. And set your heart to the entrance of the house, with all the exits of the sanctuary.
6. And you shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: Enough to you, of all your abominations, O house of Israel,
7. when you brought in the sons of aliens, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when you bring near My bread, the fat and the blood. And they have broken My covenant by all your abominations.
8. And you have not kept the charge of My holy things, but you have set them as keepers of My charge in My sanctuary, for themselves.
9. So says the Lord Jehovah: No son of an alien, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, or any son of an alien who is among the sons of Israel.
10. But the Levites who have gone far from Me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me, going after their idols, even they shall bear their iniquity.
11. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, overseers at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them, to minister to them.
12. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling-block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up My hand against them, declares the Lord Jehovah. And they shall bear their iniquity.
13. And they shall not come near to Me to serve as priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the holiest of the holy things, but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have done.
14. But I will give them to be keepers of the charge of the house for all its service, and for all that shall be done in it.
15. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me. And they shall stand before Me to bring near to Me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Jehovah.
16. They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister to Me. And they shall keep My charge.
17. And it shall be when they enter in the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with bleached linen garments. And wool shall not come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and in the house.
18. Turbans of bleached linen shall be on their heads, and bleached linen undergarments shall be on their loins. They shall not gird with sweat.
19. And when they go out into the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments by which they ministered and lay them in the holy rooms. And they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people with their own garments.
20. And they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not send forth long hair; trimming they shall trim their heads.
21. And every priest shall not drink wine when they enter into the inner court.
22. And they shall not take a widow or a divorcee, for wives for themselves, but they shall only take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
23. And they shall teach My people between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, to make them known.
24. And in a dispute, they shall stand to judge, they shall judge it by My judgments. And they shall observe My laws and My statutes in My appointed feasts, and they shall sanctify My sabbaths.
25. And he shall not come to a dead man, to defile himself; but for father, or for mother, or for a son, or for a daughter, for a brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.
26. And after he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him.
27. And in the day he goes into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring his sin offering, declares the Lord Jehovah.
28. And it shall be to them for an inheritance; I am their inheritance; and you shall not give them possession in Israel; I am their possession.
29. They shall eat the food offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering. And every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.
30. And the first of all the firstfruits of all, and every one of the heave offerings of all, of all your heave offerings, shall be for the priests. And you shall give to the priest the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
31. The priests shall not eat of every corpse and torn thing, of birds, or of beasts.