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    Ezekiel · 31 verses

    Ezekiel 44

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    The east gate stays shut because the LORD entered through it, yet the prince is granted a remarkably precise exception: he may sit inside it for a meal, entering and leaving by the portico.

    The shut gate and the opened sightvv. 1–9

    The man brings Ezekiel back to the east-facing outer gate, where the divine entrance has left a permanent closure behind it. The prince may sit within the gateway to eat before the LORD, but even he must use the portico both ways: no casual shortcut through a gate with such a history. Then the man takes Ezekiel round by the north gate, where the glory fills the temple and Ezekiel falls facedown. The LORD's instructions are wonderfully exact—eyes, ears, entrances, exits—before the charge is delivered against Israel for bringing uncircumcised foreigners into the sanctuary and handing the care of holy things to others.

    Two kinds of temple servicevv. 10–31

    The Levites who wandered after idols are not dismissed from temple work, but neither are they allowed near the LORD as priests. They keep the gates, slaughter the offerings, and carry the practical burden of the temple, while bearing the shame of what they did. The priests descended from Zadok, by contrast, may approach the LORD and minister at His table. Their clothing is regulated with almost comic practicality: linen, no wool, nothing that makes them perspire; and after serving, they change before going among the people, lest holiness travel by way of a garment. Their work extends beyond ceremony into teaching, judging, observing feasts and Sabbaths, managing contact with the dead, and receiving the offerings. Their inheritance is the LORD, which is a possession of a rather singular sort, and their table excludes any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Ezek 44:1The man then brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faced east, but it was shut.

    2. Ezek 44:2And the LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it will remain shut.

    3. Ezek 44:3Only the prince himself may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He must enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way.”

    4. Ezek 44:4Then the man brought me to the front of the temple by way of the north gate. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling His temple, and I fell facedown.

    5. Ezek 44:5The LORD said to me: “Son of man, pay attention; look carefully with your eyes and listen closely with your ears to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes and laws of the house of the LORD. Take careful note of the entrance to the temple, along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

    6. Ezek 44:6Tell the rebellious house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I have had enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel.

    7. Ezek 44:7In addition to all your other abominations, you brought in foreigners uncircumcised in both heart and flesh to occupy My sanctuary; you defiled My temple when you offered My food—the fat and the blood; you broke My covenant.

    8. Ezek 44:8And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.’

    9. Ezek 44:9This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.

    10. Ezek 44:10Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.

    11. Ezek 44:11Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and ministering there. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to minister to them.

    12. Ezek 44:12Because they ministered before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I swore with an uplifted hand concerning them that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity, declares the Lord GOD.

    13. Ezek 44:13They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things. They will bear the shame of the abominations they have committed.

    14. Ezek 44:14Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of all the work for the temple and everything to be done in it.

    15. Ezek 44:15But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

    16. Ezek 44:16They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge.

    17. Ezek 44:17When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen garments; they must not wear anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.

    18. Ezek 44:18They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.

    19. Ezek 44:19When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

    20. Ezek 44:20They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.

    21. Ezek 44:21No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.

    22. Ezek 44:22And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.

    23. Ezek 44:23They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

    24. Ezek 44:24In any dispute, they shall officiate as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They must keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed feasts, and they must keep My Sabbaths holy.

    25. Ezek 44:25A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,

    26. Ezek 44:26and after he is cleansed, he must count off seven days for himself.

    27. Ezek 44:27And on the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he must present his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

    28. Ezek 44:28In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.

    29. Ezek 44:29They shall eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them.

    30. Ezek 44:30The best of all the firstfruits and of every contribution from all your offerings will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest upon your homes.

    31. Ezek 44:31The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.’’

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 304 passages were voted onto 31 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 30Nehemiah 10:35–37We will also bring the firstfruits of our land and of every fruit tree to the house of the LORD year by year.
    • 23Ezekiel 22:26Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
    • 3Ezekiel 46:2The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost, while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be shut until evening.
    • 23Leviticus 10:10–11You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
    • 4Ezekiel 1:28The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
    • 22Leviticus 21:7A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
    • 232 Timothy 2:24–25And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
    • 28Joshua 13:33To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.
    • 28Numbers 18:20Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
    • 29Numbers 18:14Every devoted thing in Israel belongs to you.
    • 7Leviticus 22:25Neither you nor a foreigner shall present food to your God from any such animal. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and flawed.’”
    • 7Jeremiah 9:26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
    • 9Joel 3:17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
    • 16Ezekiel 41:22There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
    • 22Leviticus 21:13–14The woman he marries must be a virgin.
    • 29Leviticus 27:21When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the LORD; it becomes the property of the priests.

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