Ezekiel 44 is the forty-fourth chapter of the

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

.Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.''Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook''. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Ezekiel, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

.J. D. Davis. 1960. ''A Dictionary of the Bible''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House.Theodore Hiebert, et al. 1996. ''The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume VI''. Nashville: Abingdon. The final section of Ezekiel, chapters 40- 48, give the ideal picture of a new temple. The

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonica ...

refers to this section as "the Torah of Ezekiel". In particular, chapters 44– 46 record various laws governing the rites and personnel of the sanctuary, as a supplement to Ezekiel's vision. This chapter contains Ezekiel's vision of the east gate assigned only to the prince (Ezekiel 44:1-3), the people are reproved for steering strangers to pollute the sanctuary (verses 4–8), idolaters are declared incapable of undertaking the priest's office (verses 9–14), the sons of

Zadok Zadok (or Zadok HaKohen, also spelled Ṣadok, Ṣadoc, Zadoq, Tzadok, or Tsadoq; he, צָדוֹק הַכֹּהֵן, meaning "Righteous, Justified") was a Kohen (priest), biblically recorded to be a descendant from Eleazar the son of Aaron (). H ...

are accepted thereto (verses 15–16), and ordinances are given for the priests (verses 17–31).Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown. '' Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary on the Whole Bible'', 1871. The vision was given on the 25th anniversary of Ezekiel's exile, "April 28, 573 BCE", 14 years after the fall of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and 12 years after the last messages of hope in chapter 39.

Text

The original text was written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Laws of the sanctuary (44:1–14)

The part begins with the style of the original vision, with Ezekiel being led by the messenger from inner court ( to the east gate of the outer court (verses 1–3), then to the northern gate facing the inner court (verse 4), followed by the rules and regulations for the temple (verses 5–14).

Verse 2

: ''And the Lord said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut."'' Biblical commentator Susan Galambush notes that although the commandment suggests the special

holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

attributed to the Lord God of Israel's "private entrance", the permanently locked gate also symbolizes the permanence of God's presence in the temple.

Verse 3

:''"As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way."'' The Jerusalem Bible notes that this would have been "a sacred meal, presumably accompanying the communion sacrifice" of Leviticus 7:11-15.

Verse 5

: ''And the Lord said to me, "Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary."'' * "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ''-''): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel, differing the creator God from His creatures, and to put Ezekiel as a "representative member of the human race."

The Zadokite priesthood (44:15–31)

This section records the regulations for the levitical priests of the family of

, who claimed to be of the line of

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from cr ...

, the son of Aaron ) whereas the other priests claimed to be the descendants of

Ithamar In the Torah, Ithamar () was the fourth (and the youngest) son of Aaron the High Priest."Ithamar", '' Encyclopaedia Biblica'' Following the construction of the Tabernacle, he was responsible for recording an inventory to ensure that the constructed ...

, Aaron's youngest son, and the rest of the Levites performed a subordinate role (cf. ). The meanings of these regulations are not completely clear, but mostly in parallel to the Priestly material in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.

Verse 15

: ''"But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood," says the Lord God.'' NKJV * Ezekiel belongs to the group of Zadokite priests (: ).

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Jewish

Ezekiel 44 Hebrew with Parallel EnglishEzekiel 44 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

Ezekiel 44 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
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