Ezekiel 44:15-31
The Levitical Responsibilities
15“But the aLevitical priests, the sons of bZadok, who ckept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel dwent astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall estand before Me to bring near to Me the ffat and the blood,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16“They shall aenter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My btable to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me. 17“And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with alinen garments; and wool shall not 1be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18“Linen aheaddresses shall be on their heads, and blinen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. 19“And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall aput off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will bnot transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20“Also they shall anot shave their heads, yet they shall not blet their locks 1grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21“aNor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22“And they shall not 1take a widow or a adivorced woman as a wife but shall btake virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23“Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the adifference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. 24“And in a dispute, athey shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My bappointed times and ckeep My sabbaths holy. 25“But 1,athey shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean. 26“And after he is acleansed, seven days shall be counted for him. 27“And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the ainner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring near his bsin offering,” declares Lord Yahweh.
28“And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that aI am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession. 29“They shall aeat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every 1,bdevoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30“And the first of all the afirst fruits of every kind and every 1contribution of every kind, from all your 2contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the bfirst of your 3dough to cause a cblessing to rest on your house. 31“The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has adied of itself or has been torn to pieces.