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Ezekiel 44:21

in Ezekiel 44

No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

KJV

Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

This verse in Ezekiel 44

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Drink wine - Or any other strong liquor, when they go either to trim the lamps or set the shew-bread in order, or to offer incense in the temple, or when they go to the altar to offer a sacrifice, which stood in the inner court.

This site's exposition

They must not shave their heads

on Ezekiel 44:20-27

The priests must “carefully trim their hair,” a middle course between pagan mourners' shaved heads and unkempt hair. They drink no wine before the inner court, and they teach “the difference between the holy and the common.” Marriage is limited to a virgin of Israel or a priest's widow.

This site's exposition

No priest may drink wine

John Wesley extends the rule to strong drink and to every task in the holy place, from trimming the lamps to offering at the altar. The ban comes from Leviticus 10:9. Clear judgment is needed for the teaching duty of verse 23.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verses 17 onwards) And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments (or robes); they shall not wear anything made of wool (or they shall not wear garments made of wool) when they minister at the gates of the inner court and inside. Linen turbans shall be on their heads (or they shall have linen turbans on their heads) and linen undergarments shall be around their waists, and they shall not be bound in sweat (or forced).

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Neither shall any priest drink wine,....

The words behind it

9 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.

  • וְיַ֥יִןand wine

    veyayinH3196 →

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יִשְׁתּ֖וּthey will drink

    yishtuH8354 →217 times

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • כֹּהֵ֑ןpriest

    kohenH3548 →750 times

  • בְּבוֹאָ֖םwhen come they

    bevoamH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הֶחָצֵ֥רthe courtyard

    hechatzerH2691 →191 times

  • הַפְּנִימִֽית׃<the> inner

    hapenimitH6442 →32 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

    Leviticus 10:9

    “You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come.

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 3:3

      not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Luke 1:15

      for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.

  • Through

    Luke 1:15

    for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 5:18

      Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Jeremiah 1:5

      “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

    • Numbers 6:2–4

      “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,

    • Luke 7:33

      For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

    • Galatians 1:15

      But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased

  • Through

    1 Timothy 3:8

    Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued or given to much wine or greedy for money.

    it leads to

    • Philippians 1:1

      Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.