CHAPTER 44
1 And he turned me to the way of the gate of the outermore saintuary, which gate beheld to the east, and was closed.
2 And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and a man shall not pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel entered [in] by it, and it shall be closed to the prince.
3 The prince himself shall sit therein, that he eat bread before the Lord; he shall go in by the way of the gate of the porch, and he shall go out by the way thereof.
4 And he led me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house of the Lord; and I saw, and lo! the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell down on my face.
5 And the Lord said to me, Thou, son of man, set thine heart, and see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all things which I speak to thee, of all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and of all the laws thereof; and thou shalt set thine heart in the ways of the temple, by all the goings out of the saintuary.
6 And thou shalt say to the house of Israel stirring me to wrath, The Lord God saith these things, Ye house of Israel, all your great trespasses suffice to you,
7 for ye bring in alien sons, uncir-cumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, that they be in my saintuary, and defoul mine house. And ye offer my loaves, inner fatness, and blood, and break my covenant in all your great trespasses.
8 And ye kept not the command-ments of my saintuary, and ye setted keepers of my keepings in my saintuary to yourselves.
9 The Lord God saith these things, Each alien, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my saintuary; yea, each alien son, which is in the midst of the sons of Israel.
10 But also [the] Levites, [or deacons], that went far away from me, in the error of the sons of Israel, and erred from me after their idols, and bare their wickedness,
11 they shall be keepers of [the] houses in my saintuary, and porters of gates of the house, and ministers of the house; they shall slay burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices for victory of the people; and they shall stand in the sight of the priests for to minister to them.
12 For that that they ministered to those [or them] in the sight of their idols, and were made to the house of Israel into offending, either hurting, of wickedness; therefore I raised mine hand on them, saith the Lord God, and they bare their wickedness.
13 And they shall not nigh to me, that they use priesthood to me, neither they shall nigh to all my saintuary beside [the] holy of holy things, but they shall bear their shame, and their great trespasses which they did.
14 And I shall make them porters of the house, in all the service thereof, and in all things that be done therein.
15 Forsooth priests and deacons, the sons of Zadok, that kept the ceremonies of my saintuary, when the sons of Israel erred from me, they shall nigh to me, for to minister to me; and they shall stand in my sight, that they offer to me inner fatness and blood, saith the Lord God.
16 They shall enter into my saintuary, and they shall nigh to my board, that they minister to me, and keep my ceremonies.
17 And when they shall enter into the gates of the inner foreyard, they shall be clothed with linen clothes, neither any woolen thing shall go on them, when they minister in the gates of the inner foreyard, and within;
18 linen caps, either mitres, shall be in the heads of them, and linen breeches shall be in the loins of them, and they shall not be gird in sweat.
19 And when they shall go out at the outermore foreyard to the people, they shall despoil them of their clothes in which they ministered, and they shall lay those [or them] up in the chambers of the saintuary; and they shall clothe themselves in other clothes, and they shall not hallow my people in their clothes.
20 Forsooth they shall not shave their head[s], neither they shall nurse long hair, but they clipping shall clip their heads.
21 And each priest shall not drink wine, when he shall enter into the inner foreyard.
22 And priests shall not take for wives a widow, and a forsaken woman, but virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; but also they shall take a widow, which is the widow of a priest.
23 And they shall teach my people, what is betwixt holy thing and defouled; and they shall show to them, what is betwixt clean thing and unclean.
24 And when debate is, they shall stand in my dooms, and shall deem by my laws; and they shall keep my commandments in all my solemnities, and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
25 And they shall not enter to a dead man, lest they be defouled; no but to father, and mother, and to son, and daughter, and to brother, and sister that had not an husband, in which they shall be defouled.
26 And after that he is cleansed, seven days shall be numbered to him.
27 And in the day of his entering into the saintuary, to the inner foreyard, that he minister to me in the saintuary, he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God.
28 Forsooth none heritage shall be to them, I am the heritage of them; and ye shall not give to them a possession in Israel, for I am the possession of them.
29 They shall eat sacrifice, and that for sin, and that for trespass, and each avow [or vow] of Israel shall be theirs.
30 And the first things of all first engendered things, and all moist sacrifices, of all things that be offered, shall be the priests’ part; and ye shall give the first things of your meats to the priest, that he lay up blessing to his house.
31 Priests shall not eat anything dead by itself, and taken of a beast, of fowls, and of sheep.