Read the Bible

The Gate of the Prince

¹ Then He brought me back by the way of the ^(C1)outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut.² Yahweh said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^(C1)Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.³ "As for the ^(C1)prince, he shall sit in it as prince to ^(C2)eat bread before Yahweh; he shall ^(C3)enter by way of the ^(C4)porch of the gate and shall go out ^(F1)by the same way."

⁴ Then He brought me by way of the ^(C1)north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the ^(C2)glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I ^(C3)fell on my face.⁵ Then Yahweh said to me, "Son of man, ^(C1)set your heart on and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ^(C2)statutes of the house of Yahweh and concerning all its laws; and set your heart on the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary.⁶ "And you shall say to the ^(F1)(C1)rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says Lord Yahweh, "^(C2)Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel,⁷ when you brought in ^(C1)foreigners, ^(C2)uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you ^(C3)brought near My food, the fat and the blood. So they ^(C4)made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations.⁸ "And you have not ^(C1)kept the responsibility of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners as keepers of the responsibility given by Me for My sanctuary."

⁹ 'Thus says Lord Yahweh, "^(C1)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.¹⁰ "But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who ^(C1)went astray from Me after their idols, shall ^(C2)bear the punishment for their iniquity.¹¹ "Yet they shall be ^(C1)ministers in My sanctuary, having ^(C2)oversight at the gates of the house and ^(C3)ministering in the house; they shall ^(C4)slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall ^(C5)stand before them to minister to them.¹² "Because they ministered to them ^(C1)before their idols and became a ^(C2)stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^(F1)(C3)sworn against them," declares Lord Yahweh, "that they shall ^(C4)bear the punishment for their iniquity.¹³ "And they shall ^(C1)not approach Me to minister as a priest to Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ^(C2)bear their dishonor and their abominations which they have done.¹⁴ "Yet I will ^(F1)appoint them as ^(C1)keepers of the responsibility for the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

The Levitical Responsibilities

¹⁵ "But the ^(C1)Levitical priests, the sons of ^(C2)Zadok, who ^(C3)kept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ^(C4)went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall ^(C5)stand before Me to bring near to Me the ^(C6)fat and the blood," declares Lord Yahweh.¹⁶ "They shall ^(C1)enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ^(C2)table to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me.¹⁷ "And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with ^(C1)linen garments; and wool shall not ^(F1)be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house.¹⁸ "Linen ^(C1)headdresses shall be on their heads, and ^(C2)linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat.¹⁹ "And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall ^(C1)put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will ^(C2)not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.²⁰ "Also they shall ^(C1)not shave their heads, yet they shall not ^(C2)let their locks ^(F1)grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.²¹ "^(C1)Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court.²² "And they shall not ^(F1)take a widow or a ^(C1)divorced woman as a wife but shall ^(C2)take virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest.²³ "Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the ^(C1)difference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean.²⁴ "And in a dispute, ^(C1)they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My ^(C2)appointed times and ^(C3)keep My sabbaths holy.²⁵ "But ^(F1)(C1)they shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean.²⁶ "And after he is ^(C1)cleansed, seven days shall be counted for him.²⁷ "And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the ^(C1)inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring near his ^(C2)sin offering," declares Lord Yahweh.

²⁸ "And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that ^(C1)I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession.²⁹ "They shall ^(C1)eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every ^(F1)(C2)devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.³⁰ "And the first of all the ^(C1)first fruits of every kind and every ^(F1)contribution of every kind, from all your ^(F1)contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the ^(C2)first of your ^(F2)dough to cause a ^(C3)blessing to rest on your house.³¹ "The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has ^(C1)died of itself or has been torn to pieces.