1Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one that faces east. It was shut.
2Then the LORD said to me, "This gate shall stay shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall go in through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has gone in through it. So it shall stay shut."
3"It is for the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall come in by the porch of that gate, and he shall go out the same way."
4Then he brought me by the north gate to the front of the house. I looked, and the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. And I fell on my face.
5The LORD said to me, "Son of man, pay close attention. Look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the rules of the house of the LORD and all its laws. Pay close attention to the entrance of the house and to every exit of the sanctuary."
6Say to the rebellious people, to the house of Israel, This is what the Lord GOD says: You house of Israel, you have done enough of all your detestable things.
7You brought foreigners into my sanctuary, people uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh. They were in my sanctuary and made it unclean, my own house, while you offered my bread, the fat and the blood. So my covenant was broken by all your detestable things.
8You have not kept charge of my holy things. Instead you put others in charge of my sanctuary for yourselves.
9This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter my sanctuary, not one of the foreigners who live among the children of Israel.
10The Levites who went far away from me when Israel went astray, who wandered away from me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their sin.
11Yet they shall serve in my sanctuary. They shall have charge of the gates of the house and shall serve in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people to serve them.
12Because they served the people in front of their idols, and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord GOD, and they shall bear the punishment for their sin.
13They shall not come near me to serve me as priests. They shall not come near any of my holy things in the most holy place. They shall bear their shame and the detestable things they have done.
14Yet I will put them in charge of the house, of all its work and of everything that is done in it.
15But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near me to serve me. They shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD.
16They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall come near my table to serve me, and they shall keep my charge.
17When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen clothes. No wool shall be on them while they serve in the gates of the inner court and inside.
18They shall wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not wear anything that makes them sweat.
19When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall take off the clothes they served in and lay them in the holy rooms. They shall put on other clothes, so that they do not make the people holy with their clothes.
20They shall not shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long. They shall only trim their hair.
21No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
22They shall not marry a widow or a woman who has been divorced. They shall marry young women of the family of the house of Israel, or a widow whose husband was a priest.
23They shall teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, and show them how to tell the unclean from the clean.
24In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it by my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my rules at all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my sabbaths holy.
25They shall not go near a dead person and make themselves unclean. But for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or a sister who has had no husband, they may make themselves unclean.
26After such a priest is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him.
27On the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to serve in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord GOD.
28This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You shall give them no property in Israel: I am their property.
29They shall eat the food offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. Everything in Israel that is set apart to the LORD shall be theirs.
30The best of all the firstfruits of everything, and every gift of every kind from all your gifts, shall belong to the priest. You shall also give the priest the first of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house.
31The priests shall not eat anything, bird or animal, that has died of itself or been torn by wild beasts.