East Gate Assigned to the Prince
1 Then he brought me back through the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces the east, and it was shut. 2 The LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened. No man shall enter in by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it shall be shut. 3 Only the prince, since he is a prince, shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter through the porch at the front of the gate and shall go out the same way.”
4 Then he brought me through the north gate before the house, and I looked, and the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, so I fell on my face.
5 The LORD said to me, “Son of man, mark well and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD and all its laws, and mark well the entrance of the house with every exit of the sanctuary.
6 You shall tell the rebellious, the house of Israel, ‘The Lord GOD says this: You, house of Israel, that is enough of all your abominations. 7 You have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. 8 You have not carried out the duties of my holy things, but you have set up foreigners to perform the duties of my sanctuary.
9 The Lord GOD says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the Israelites.
10 But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house. They shall kill 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 GOD, and they will bear their iniquity. 13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy, but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to the duties of the temple, for all its service and for all that will be done in it.’ ”
Rules for the Levites
15 “ ‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD. 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
17 It will be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. No wool shall touch them while they minister in the gates of the inner court or within the temple. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and shall have linen undergarments on their waists. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that makes them perspire. 19 When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall take off the garments in which they ministered and lay them in the holy rooms. They shall put on other garments, so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
20 They shall not shave their heads or allow the locks of their hair to grow long. They shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 None of the priests shall drink wine when they enter into the inner court. 22 They shall not take as their wives a widow, or divorcee, but they shall take virgins from among the Israelites, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and teach them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
24 In a dispute, they shall stand to judge. They shall judge the dispute according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts. They shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
25 They shall not defile themselves by going near a dead person; except for their father, or mother, or son, or daughter, or brother, or sister who has never married, they may defile themselves. 26 After he is cleansed, they shall count off seven days. 27 On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.
28 They shall have an inheritance. I am their inheritance, and you shall not give them any possession in Israel. I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the priest. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dies by itself, or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.’ ”