Rules for Levitical Priests

Ezekiel 44

15 "But c the Levitical priests, c the sons of Zadok, who kept a the charge of my sanctuary r when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me d to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me e the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach f my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear g linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering h and lay them in the holy chambers. And i they shall put on other garments, j lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 k They shall not shave their heads or l let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 m No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 n They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 o They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and o show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 p In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and q they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 r They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 s After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, t into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, u he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

28 v "This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and w you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 x They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and y every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 z And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. a You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, b that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 c The priests shall not eat of d anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

  1. Cross References
    Ezekiel 43:19
    You shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, a bull from the herd for a sin offering.
  2. Cross References
    Ezekiel 43:19
    You shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, a bull from the herd for a sin offering.
  3. Cross References
    Ezekiel 44:14
    Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.
  4. Cross References
    Ezekiel 44:10
    But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.
  5. Cross References
    Ezekiel 44:11
    They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them.
    Deuteronomy 10:8
    At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.
  6. Cross References
    Ezekiel 44:7
    In admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.
  7. Cross References
    Ezekiel 41:22
    An altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, "This is the table that is before the Lord.
  8. Cross References
    Exodus 28:39
    You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework.
    Exodus 39:27
    They also made the coats, woven of fine linen, for Aaron and his sons.
  9. Cross References
    Ezekiel 42:14
    When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.
  10. Cross References
    Leviticus 6:11
    Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
  11. Cross References
    Ezekiel 46:20
    And he said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so transmit holiness to the people.
    Exodus 29:37
    Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.
    Exodus 30:29
    You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy.
    Leviticus 6:27
    Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place.
  12. Cross References
    Leviticus 21:5
    They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.
    Ezekiel 5:1
    And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber's razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 6:5
    All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
  14. Cross References
    Leviticus 10:9
    Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
  15. Cross References
    Leviticus 21:7
    They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
    Leviticus 21:13 - 14
    And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
  16. Cross References
    Ezekiel 22:26
    Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
    Leviticus 10:10 - 11
    You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.
  17. Cross References
    Ezekiel 22:26
    Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
    Leviticus 10:10 - 11
    You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.
  18. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 17:8 - 9
    If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose.
    2 Chronicles 19:8
    Moreover, in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed certain Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel, to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem.
  19. Cross References
    Ezekiel 22:26
    Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
  20. Cross References
    Leviticus 21:1 - 3
    And the Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people.
  21. Cross References
    Numbers 19:11 - 12
    Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
  22. Cross References
    Ezekiel 44:17
    When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within.
    Ezekiel 44:21
    No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
  23. Cross References
    Ezekiel 40:39
    And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered.
    Ezekiel 42:13
    Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings - the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering - for the place is holy.
    Leviticus 4:2 - 3
    Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord 's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them.
  24. Cross References
    Numbers 18:20
    And the Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
  25. Cross References
    Ezekiel 45:4 - 5
    It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.
  26. Cross References
    Leviticus 6:14 - 18
    And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord in front of the altar.
    Leviticus 6:25 - 29
    Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord ; it is most holy.
    Leviticus 7:1 - 6
    This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.
  27. Cross References
    Leviticus 27:21
    But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it.
    Leviticus 27:28
    But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.
    Numbers 18:14
    Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
  28. Cross References
    Exodus 23:19
    The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
  29. Cross References
    Numbers 15:20
    Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it.
  30. Cross References
    Malachi 3:10
    Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
  31. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:8
    He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.
    Exodus 22:31
    You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
    Leviticus 7:24
    The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it.
  32. Cross References
    Ezekiel 4:14
    Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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