Yehezkiel 44:6-16

44:6 Say to the rebellious, ¹  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 ²  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ³  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 ⁴  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. ⁵ 

44:10 “‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for ⁶  their sin. 44:11 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. 44:12 Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle ⁷  to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow ⁸  concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible ⁹  for their sin. 44:13 They will not come near me to serve me as priest, nor will they come near any of my holy things, the things which are most sacred. They will bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have committed. 44:14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all of its service and all that will be done in it.

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹⁰  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. 44:16 They will enter my sanctuary, and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge.

[44:6]  ¹ tc The LXX reads “house of rebellion.”

[44:7]  ² tn Heb “to desecrate.”

[44:7]  ³ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

[44:8]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.

[44:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “will bear.”

[44:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “a stumbling block of iniquity.” This is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (cf. also Ezek 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30).

[44:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[44:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “will bear.”

[44:15]  ¹⁰ sn Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar (1 Chr 6:50-53), who served as a priest during David’s reign (2 Sam 8:17).