Yehezkiel 44:4-9

44:4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed ¹  the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down. 44:5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, ²  watch closely and listen carefully to ³  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ⁴  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary. 44:6 Say to the rebellious, ⁵  to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel! 44:7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ⁶  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ⁷  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners ⁸  to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 44:9 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. ⁹ 

[44:4]  ¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[44:5]  ² tn Heb “set your heart” (so also in the latter part of the verse).

[44:5]  ³ tn Heb “Set your mind, look with your eyes, and with your ears hear.”

[44:5]  ⁴ tc The Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum read the plural. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:618.

[44:6]  ⁵ tc The LXX reads “house of rebellion.”

[44:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

[44:7]  ⁷ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

[44:8]  ⁸ tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.

[44:8]  tn This word is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied from the context.

[44:9]  ⁹ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.