Ezekiel 44:14
in Ezekiel 44Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of all the work for the temple and everything to be done in it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
KJV
But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
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This verse in Ezekiel 44
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBut I will make them keepers of the charge of the house,.... To be watchmen or porters in it; to open and shut the doors of it; to sweep and keep it clean; to repair and mend it, and to do such like works, as it follows: for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein; in a servile way; but not as priests or ministers of the word.
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
keep charge of all the work for the temple
John Gill lists the tasks: watchmen and porters who open and shut the doors, sweep the house and repair it. The work is humble. The Levites who once handed the sanctuary to foreigners (44:8) must now guard it themselves.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
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?
(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 Awakening1 voice
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
But the priests, the Levites [i.e., the priests, who are] of the tribe of Levi.
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
11 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָתַתִּ֣י | venatati | and I will make | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אוֹתָ֔ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שֹׁמְרֵ֖י | shomerei | [the] keepers of | H8104 → | 468 times |
| מִשְׁמֶ֣רֶת | mishmeret | [the] charge of | H4931 → | 78 times |
| הַבָּ֑יִת | habayit | the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| לְכֹל֙ | lekhol | for all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֲבֹ֣דָת֔וֹ | avodato | service its | H5656 → | 145 times |
| וּלְכֹ֛ל | ulekhol | and for all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יֵעָשֶׂ֖ה | yeaseh | it will be done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בּֽוֹ׃ פ | bo | in it |
וְנָתַתִּ֣יand I will make
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
אוֹתָ֔ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
שֹׁמְרֵ֖י[the] keepers of
shomereiH8104 →468 times
מִשְׁמֶ֣רֶת[the] charge of
mishmeretH4931 →78 times
הַבָּ֑יִתthe house
habayitH1004 →2046 times
לְכֹל֙for all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
עֲבֹ֣דָת֔וֹservice its
avodatoH5656 →145 times
וּלְכֹ֛לand for all
ulekholH3605 →5413 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יֵעָשֶׂ֖הit will be done
yeasehH6213 →2628 times
בּֽוֹ׃ פin it
bo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
4 stopsEach 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 18:4They are to join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no outsider may come near you.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 6:6–7
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.
- Numbers 1:51
Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…
- 1 Samuel 6:19
But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them…
- Numbers 3:10
So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”
- 2 Samuel 6:6–7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
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 (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.