1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, but it was shut. 2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal before the Lord; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way.”

4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down. 5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, watch closely, and listen carefully to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary. 6 Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel! 7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate it—even my house—when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 9 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel will enter into my sanctuary.

10 “‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin. 11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they used to minister to them before their idols and became a sinful obstacle to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow concerning them, declares the Sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible for their sin. 13 They will not come near me to serve me as priest, nor will they come near any of my holy things, the things that are most sacred. They will bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all its service, and all that will be done in it.

15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 They will enter my sanctuary and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge.

17 “‘When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple. 18 Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

20 “‘They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads. 21 No priest may drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel or a widow who is a priest’s widow. 23 Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean.

24 “‘In a controversy they will act as judges; they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe my Sabbaths.

25 “‘They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister, they may defile themselves. 26 After a priest has become ceremonially clean, they must count off a period of seven days for him. 27 On the day he enters the sanctuary into the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, declares the Sovereign Lord.

28 “‘This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property. 29 They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs. 30 The first of all the firstfruits and all contributions of any kind will be for the priests; you will also give to the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal.

45:1 “‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be 8¼ miles and the width 3? miles. This entire area will be holy. 2 Of this area a square 875 feet by 875 feet will be designated for the sanctuary, with 87½ feet set aside for its open space round about. 3 From this measured area you will measure a length of 8¼ miles and a width of 3? miles; in it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It will be a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who approach the Lord to minister to him. It will be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area 8¼ miles in length and 3? miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live.

6 “‘Alongside the portion set apart as the holy allotment, you will allot for the city an area 1? miles wide and 8¼ miles long; it will be for the whole house of Israel.

7 “‘For the prince there will be land on both sides of the holy allotment and the allotted city, on the west side and on the east side; it will be comparable in length to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border 8 of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 10 You must use just balances, a just dry measure (an ephah), and a just liquid measure (a bath). 11 The dry and liquid measures will be the same: The bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure. 12 The shekel will be 20 gerahs. Sixty shekels will be a mina for you.

13 “‘This is the offering you must offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, 14 and as the prescribed portion of olive oil, one-tenth of a bath from each cor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths make a homer); 15 and one sheep from each flock of 200, from the watered places of Israel, for a grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offering, to make atonement for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 All the people of the land will contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel. 17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at festivals, on the new moons and Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you must take an unblemished young bull and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and place it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorpost of the gate of the inner court. 20 This is what you must do on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins inadvertently or through ignorance; so you will make atonement for the temple.

21 “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will celebrate the Passover, and for the seven days of the festival bread made without yeast will be eaten. 22 On that day the prince will provide for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. 23 And during the seven days of the feast he will provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams, all without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24 He will provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a gallon of olive oil for each ephah of grain. 25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he will make the same provisions for the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering, and for the olive oil, for the seven days.