Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faced east; but it was shut.

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

And the LORD said to me, 'This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one may enter through it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore, it shall remain shut.'

Then 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.

Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and exit the same way.

It 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.

Then He brought me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD, and I fell on my face.

Then 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.

And the LORD said to me, 'Son of man, pay attention and look with your eyes and hear with your ears everything I am telling you about the regulations of the temple of the LORD and all its laws. Set your heart on the entrance of the temple and all its exits.'

And 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.

And say to the rebellious house of Israel, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel!'

And 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,

When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in My sanctuary and profane it—My house—by offering My food, the fat, and the blood, you broke My covenant with all your abominations.

In 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.

You did not keep charge of My holy things, but appointed others to be in charge of My sanctuary for you.

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

Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, shall enter My sanctuary—not even any foreigner among the people of Israel.

Thus 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.

But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed after their idols, shall bear their punishment.

And 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.

They shall serve as ministers in My sanctuary, responsible for the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they shall stand before them to serve them.

Yet 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.

Because they served them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to stumble into iniquity, therefore I have lifted My hand against them, declares the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their punishment.

Because 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.

They shall not come near Me to serve as priests or to come near any of My holy things or the most holy things; they will bear their shame for the abominations they have committed.

And 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.

I will appoint them as caretakers of the temple to perform all its duties and all that needs to be done within it.

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

But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who faithfully preserved the charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, shall come near Me to serve Me. They shall stand in My presence to offer fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

But 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:

They alone shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall approach My table to serve Me. They will keep My charge.

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

When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen garments; they must not wear any wool while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.

And 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.

They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.

They 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.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they wore while ministering and leave them in the holy chambers. They are to put on other garments so they do not transmit holiness to the people by their clothing.

And 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.

They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed.

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

No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court.

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

They must not marry widows or divorced women, but only virgins of Israelite descent or widows who were married to priests.

Neither 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.

They are to teach My people the difference between what is holy and what is common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

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

In any dispute, they shall stand as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They shall keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed festivals and sanctify My Sabbaths.

And 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.

Priests must not come near a dead person and defile themselves, except for a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or an unmarried sister. For these, they may defile themselves.

And 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.

After he is cleansed, he is to wait seven days.

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

On the day he enters the inner court and the sanctuary to minister in the holy place, he is to offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

And 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.

They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

And 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.

They are to eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them.

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

The best of all the firstfruits and every sacred contribution of yours shall belong to the priests. You are also to give the priests the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your household.

And 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.

The priests must not eat any bird or animal that has died naturally or been torn by wild beasts.

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