Ezekiel 44:5-15

5 The LORD said to me, Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws of it; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.

6 You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Yisra'el, Thus says the Lord GOD: you house of Yisra'el, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] to all your abominations.

8 You have not kept the charge of my holy things; but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

9 Thus says the Lord GOD, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Yisra'el.

10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Yisra'el went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Yisra'el; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of Kohen to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

14 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that shall be done therein.

15 But the Kohanim the Levites, the sons of Tzadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Yisra'el went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD:

Ezekiel 44:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 44

This chapter treats of the eastern gate of the temple being appropriated to the use of the prince, Eze 44:1-3, of the sin of the Lord's people, in admitting strangers and unholy persons into the sanctuary, either to officiate or communicate there, Eze 44:4-9 of the degrading of the Levites, that went astray, assigning them inferior posts and service in the house of God, Eze 44:10-14 and of the establishment of the sons of Zadok in their ministry, who were faithful, Eze 44:15,16, then follow various laws relating to their garments; shaving of their heads; drinking wine; their marriage; performance of their ministerial work; their regard to the dead, and their food and maintenance, Eze 44:17-31.