The Gate for the Prince

1 Then he brought me ^wback to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^xwhich faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^ythe Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only ^zthe prince may sit in it ^ato eat bread before the Lord. He ^bshall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

4 Then he brought me by way of ^cthe north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^dthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^eI fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, ^f“Son of man, mark well, ^gsee with your eyes, ^gand hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^hall the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^hthe entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to ⁱthe rebellious house,¹ to the ^jhouse of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^kenough of all your abominations, 7 in ^ladmitting foreigners, ^muncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ⁿprofaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You² have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And ^oyou have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

9 “Thus says the Lord God: ^pNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But ^qthe Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^rwhen Israel went astray, ^sshall bear their punishment.³ 11 They shall be ^tministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^uat the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^vthey shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^wa stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^xsworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They ^yshall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^zthey shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep ^acharge of the temple, ^bto do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

15 “But ^cthe Levitical priests, ^cthe sons of Zadok, who kept ^athe charge of my sanctuary ^rwhen the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^dto minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^ethe fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^fmy table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

23 ^oThey shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^oshow them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 ^pIn a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^qthey shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 ^rThey shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 ^sAfter he¹ has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^tinto the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^uhe shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

28 ^v“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^wyou shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 ^xThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^yevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

God’s Sovereign Choice

1 ^aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For ^bI could wish that I myself were ^caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,¹ my kinsmen ^daccording to the flesh. 4 They are ^eIsraelites, and to them belong ^fthe adoption, ^gthe glory, ^hthe covenants, ⁱthe giving of the law, ^jthe worship, and ^kthe promises. 5 To them belong ^lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, ^mwho is God over all, ⁿblessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham ^obecause they are his offspring, but ^p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but ^qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: ^r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but ^salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of ^thim who calls— 12 she was told, ^u“The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, ^v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? ^wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, ^x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,² but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ^y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.