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The Prophecy
of Ezechiel 44
And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the
outward sanctuary, which looked towards the east: and
it was shut.
And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it
shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it:
because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by
it, and it shall be shut
For the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it,
to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the
way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the
same way.
And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the
sight of the house: and I saw, and behold the glory
of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell
on my face.
And the Lord said to me: Son of man, attend with thy
heart, and behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears,
all that I say to thee concerning all the ceremonies
of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the laws
thereof: and mark well the ways of the temple, with
all the goings out of the sanctuary.
And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that provoketh
me: Thus saith the Lord God: Let all your wicked doings
suffice you, 0 house of Israel:
In that you have brought in strangers uncircumcised
in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary,
and to defile my house: and you offer my bread, the
fat, and the blood: and you have broken my covenant
by all your wicked doings.
And you have not kept the ordinances of my sanctuary:
but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary
for yourselves.
Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger uncircumcised in
heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into
my sanctuary, no stranger that is in the midst of the
children of Israel.
Moreover the Levites that went away far from me, when
the children of Israel went astray, and have wandered
from me after their idols, and have borne their iniquity:
They shall be officers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers
of the gates of the house, and ministers to the house:
they shall slay the holocausts, and the victims of the
people: and they shall stand in their sight, to minister
to them.
Because they ministered to them before their idols,
and were a stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of
Israel: therefore have I lifted up my hand against them,
saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity:
And they shall not come near to me to do the office
of priest to me, neither shall they come near to any
of my holy things that are by the holy of holies: but
they shall bear their shame, and their wickednesses
which they have committed.
And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all
the service thereof, and for all that shall be done
therein.
But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who
kept the ceremonies or my sanctuary, when the children
of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near
to me, to minister to me: and they shall stand before
me, to offer me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord
God.
They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come
near to my table, to minister unto me, and to keep my
ceremonies.
And when they shall enter in at the gates of the inner
court, they shall be clothed with linen garments: neither
shall any woollen come upon them, when they minister
in the gates of the inner court and within.
They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen
breeches on their loins, and they shall not be girded
with any thing that causeth sweat.
And when they shall go forth to the outward court to
the people, they shall put off their garments wherein
they ministered, and lay them up in the store chamber
of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with
other garments: and they shall not sanctify the people
with their vestments.
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long
heir: but they shall only poll their heads.
And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into
the inner court.
Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that
is divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed
of the house of Israel: but they may take a widow also,
that is, the widow of a priest.
And they shall teach my people the difference between
holy and profane, and shew them how to discern between
clean and unclean.
And when there shall be a controversy, they shall stand
in my judgments, and shall judge: they shall keep my
laws, and my ordinances in all my solemnities, and sanctify
my sabbaths.
And they shall come near no dead person, lest they be
defiled, only their father and mother, and son and daughter,
and brother and sister, that hath not had another husband:
for whom they may become unclean.
And after one is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him
seven days.
And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to
the inner court, to minister unto me in the sanctuary,
he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God.
And they shall have no inheritance, I am their inheritance:
neither shall you give them any possession in Israel,
for I am their possession.
They shall eat the victim both for sin and for trespass:
and every vowed thing in Israel shall be theirs.
And the firstfruits of all the firstborn, and all the
libations of all things that are offered, shall be the
priest's: and you shall give the firstfruits of your
meats to the priest, that he may return a blessing upon
thy house.
The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead
of itself or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or
cattle. |
English version
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