Ezekiel

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

1Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the holy place, the one that faces east. It was shut.

2Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

2The LORD said to me, "This gate must stay shut. It must not be opened, and no one may go through it. The LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. So it must stay shut."

3It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

3Only the prince may sit inside this gateway to eat a meal in the presence of the LORD. He must come in through the covered entrance of the gate and go out the same way.

Note"Prince" here means the ruler or leader of the people, not the son of a king.

4Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.

4Then the man brought me by the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the shining glory of the LORD filling the temple, and I fell facedown.

5And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.

5The LORD said to me: "Son of man, pay close attention. Look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you. These are the rules and laws for the house of the LORD. Watch carefully how people come into the temple and how they go out of the holy place.

6And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

6Tell the people of Israel, who keep turning against me, that this is what the Lord GOD says: People of Israel, I have had enough of all your disgusting deeds.

7In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.

7You brought foreigners into my holy place, men not circumcised in heart or body. You let them stay there and made my temple unclean while you offered my food, the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant, and you added this to all your other disgusting deeds.

NoteCircumcision was a small cut made on a boy's body to mark him as part of God's people. "Uncircumcised in heart" means a person had not really turned to God on the inside.

8And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

8You did not take care of my holy things yourselves. Instead you put other people in charge of my holy place for you.

9Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

9This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and body may enter my holy place. That includes any foreigner living among the people of Israel.

10And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

10The Levites who wandered far from me when Israel went astray, chasing after their idols, must carry the weight of their own sin.

11Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

11Even so, they will serve in my holy place. They will be in charge of the temple gates and will work there. They will kill the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to serve them.

12Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

12They served the people in front of their idols and made Israel fall into sin. So I raised my hand and swore that they must carry the weight of their sin, says the Lord GOD.

13And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

13They must not come near me to serve me as priests. They must not come near any of my holy things or the most holy things. They will carry the shame of the disgusting things they did.

14But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

14Still, I will put them in charge of the temple work and everything that must be done in it.

15But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:

15But the Levite priests who come from the family of Zadok kept charge of my holy place when Israel went astray from me. They may come near me to serve me. They will stand before me to offer the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD.

16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

16Only they may enter my holy place and come near my table to serve me. They will do the work I have given them.

17And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

17When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they must wear linen clothes. They must not wear anything made of wool while serving at those gates or inside the temple.

18They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

18They must wear linen head wraps on their heads and linen underclothes around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them sweat.

19And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

19When they go out to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must take off the clothes they served in. They must leave those clothes in the holy rooms and put on other clothes. That way their clothes do not pass holiness on to the people.

NoteIn the KJV, "utter court" means the outer court. The last part means the priests' special clothes could pass holiness to anyone who touched them, so the clothes had to stay in the holy rooms.

20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

20They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. They must keep their hair carefully trimmed.

21Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

21No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner courtyard.

22Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.

22They must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. They may marry a young woman from the people of Israel who has never been married, or the widow of a priest.

23And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

23They must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is ordinary. They must show them how to tell what is clean from what is unclean.

24And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

24When people argue over something, the priests will act as judges and decide by my rules. They must keep my laws and rules for all my appointed feasts, and keep my Sabbath days holy.

25And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.

25A priest must not go near a dead body and make himself unclean. But he may do so for his father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a sister who has no husband.

26And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.

26After he has been made clean again, he must count off seven more days.

27And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.

27On the day he goes back into the holy place, into the inner courtyard to serve, he must bring his sin offering, says the Lord GOD.

28And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.

28The priests will not receive land of their own. I am what they receive. Give them no property in Israel, because I am their property.

29They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering: and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.

29They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel that is set apart for the LORD will belong to them.

NoteThe KJV says "meat offering," but "meat" used to mean food of any kind. This offering was made of grain, flour, and oil, not meat.

30And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.

30The best of all the first crops and every gift you bring will belong to the priests. Also give the priest the first of your dough, so a blessing may rest on your home.

31The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.

31The priests must not eat any bird or animal that was found dead or killed by wild animals.