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Ezekiel 44:11

in Ezekiel 44

Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and ministering there. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to minister to them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

KJV

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

This verse in Ezekiel 44

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Against Jovinianus 2.28 · Written before 420.

How is it that in the book of Ezekiel, where a description is given of the future church and of the heavenly Jerusalem, the priests who have sinned are degraded to the rank of sacristans and doorkeepers, and although they are in the temple of God, that is, on the right hand, they are not among the rams but among the poorest of the sheep?

This site's exposition

the Levites who wandered away from Me

on Ezekiel 44:10-14

The Levites who wandered after their idols became “a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel” and bear the consequences of their iniquity. They still keep the gates and slaughter the people's sacrifices, but they may not approach as priests or touch the most holy things.

This site's exposition

having charge of the gates of the temple

Matthew Henry notes that the Levites lose part of their office and, it seems, none of their income. Jerome saw in them priests who sinned and were lowered to doorkeepers and sacristans. They still serve inside God's house.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 9 and following) Thus says the Lord God: Every uncircumcised foreigner in heart and in flesh shall not enter my sanctuary, every foreign son who is among the sons of Israel.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They are deprived but in part, ab officio--of their office, and, it should seem, not at all à beneficio--of their emoluments. They shall help to slay the sacrifice, which the Levites were permitted to do, and which in this temple was done, not at the altar, but at the tables, ch. xl.
Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

they shall slaughter the burnt offering a service that is valid [if performed] by non priests, slaves, or women.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 44:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Only the Levites who distanced themselves Only thus shall you do to the Levites who distanced [themselves] from Me and became idolatrous priests and have now repented..
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 44:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
as a stumbling block of iniquity priests of idolatry, attracting them to it.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 44:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהָי֤וּand they will be

    vehayuH1961 →3559 times

  • בְמִקְדָּשִׁי֙in sanctuary my

    vemikdashiH4720 →75 times

  • מְשָׁ֣רְתִ֔יםserving

    mesharetimH8334 →97 times

  • פְּקֻדּוֹת֙overseers

    pekudotH6486 →

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • שַׁעֲרֵ֣י[the] gates of

    shaareiH8179 →374 times

  • הַבַּ֔יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • וּֽמְשָׁרְתִ֖יםand serving

    umesharetimH8334 →97 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַבָּ֑יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • הֵ֠מָּהthey

    hemahH1992 →553 times

  • יִשְׁחֲט֨וּthey will slaughter

    yishchatuH7819 →81 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעֹלָ֤הthe burnt offering

    haolahH5930 →287 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • הַזֶּ֙בַח֙the sacrifice

    hazevachH2077 →162 times

  • לָעָ֔םfor the people

    laamH5971 →1873 times

  • וְהֵ֛מָּהand they

    vehemahH1992 →553 times

  • יַעַמְד֥וּthey will stand

    yaamduH5975 →521 times

  • לִפְנֵיהֶ֖ם<to> before them

    lifneihemH6440 →2123 times

  • לְשָֽׁרְתָֽם׃to serve them

    lesharetamH8334 →97 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Numbers 16:9

    Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and…

    it leads to

    • 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 serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in…

    • Isaiah 7:13

      Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?

    • Ezekiel 44:10–11

      Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 40:45

    Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 9:23

      So they and their descendants were assigned to guard the gates of the house of the LORD—the house called the Tent.

  • Through

    Numbers 18:6

    Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 3:9

      Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been given exclusively to him from among the Israelites.

    • Numbers 3:12

      “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me,

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 29:34

    However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had…

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 35:11

      And they slaughtered the Passover lambs, while the priests sprinkled the blood handed to them and the Levites skinned the animals.

    • 2 Chronicles 30:3

      since they had been unable to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 2.28; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.