Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, August 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Ezekiel 44:21

Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Wine;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Priests;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Wine;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ezekiel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fasting;   Moses;   Nations;   Priests and Levites;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Prince;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Temple;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Drunkenness;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hafṭarah;   Nazarite;   Priest;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.
Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall any of the Kohanim drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
King James Version
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
English Standard Version
No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
New American Standard Bible
"Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard.
New Century Version
None of the priests may drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard.
Amplified Bible
"Nor shall any priest drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall any Priest drinke wine when they enter into the inner court.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court.
Berean Standard Bible
No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.
Contemporary English Version
They must not drink wine before going to the inner courtyard.
Complete Jewish Bible
No cohen is to drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard.
Darby Translation
Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court.
Easy-to-Read Version
None of the priests may drink wine when they go into the inner courtyard.
George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall the priests drink wine when they enter into the inner court.
Good News Translation
Priests must not drink any wine before going into the inner courtyard.
Lexham English Bible
And no priest shall drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard.
Literal Translation
And every priest shall not drink wine when they enter into the inner court.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
All the prestes that go in to the ynmost courte, shall drynke no wyne.
American Standard Version
Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
Bible in Basic English
The priests are not to take wine when they go into the inner square.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
King James Version (1611)
Neither shall any priest drinke wine, when they enter into the inner court.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Al the priestes that go into the inmost court shal drinke no wine.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And no priest shall drink any wine, when they go into the inner court.
English Revised Version
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
World English Bible
Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And ech preest schal not drynke wyn, whanne he schal entre in to the ynnere halle.
Update Bible Version
Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
New English Translation
No priest may drink wine when he enters the inner court.
New King James Version
No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
New Living Translation
The priests must not drink wine before entering the inner courtyard.
New Life Bible
None of the religious leaders may drink wine when they come into the inner open space.
New Revised Standard
No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And wine, shall no priest drink, - when they enter into the inner court.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into the inner court.
Revised Standard Version
No priest shall drink wine, when he enters the inner court.
Young's Literal Translation
And no priest doth drink wine in their coming in unto the inner court.
THE MESSAGE
"No priest is to drink on the job—no wine while in the inside courtyard.

Contextual Overview

17And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18Linen headdresses shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. 19And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22And they shall not take a widow or a divorced woman as a wife but shall take virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the difference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. 24And in a dispute, they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed times and keep My sabbaths holy. 25But they shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean. 26And after he is cleansed, seven days shall be counted for him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Leviticus 10:9, Luke 1:15, 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Timothy 5:23, Titus 1:7, Titus 1:8

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 15:3 - a teaching Isaiah 28:7 - erred 1 Timothy 3:3 - Not given to wine

Cross-References

Genesis 42:15
by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
Genesis 42:20
and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die." And they did so.
Genesis 43:29
Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son. And he said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" And he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son."
Jeremiah 24:6
For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will return them to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not uproot them.
Jeremiah 40:4
So now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will set my eyes to look after you; but if it is displeasing in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, never mind. Look, the whole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right in your eyes to go."
Amos 9:4
And though they go into captivity before their enemies,From there I will command the sword that it kill them,And I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall any priest drink wine,.... That is, to excess, immoderately, so as to be inebriated with it, Leviticus 10:9, should not be given to it, and greedy of it, and drink it so as to disguise themselves: this is reckoned among the qualifications of a Gospel minister, 1 Timothy 3:3, otherwise it is not forbidden good men, or ministers of the word, to drink wine, for health's sake, and for the refreshment of nature, provided it is done in moderation, 1 Timothy 5:23, and particularly care should be taken that they drink it in such a manner,

when they enter into the inner court: to attend divine service, since immoderate drinking affects the memory; and such may forget the law and doctrines of the Lord they are to deliver or hear; and may put them upon saying and doing that which is improper and indecent: drunkenness in any Christian professor is abominable, especially in a minister of the word; and when it appears in his ministration, it is scandalous to the last degree.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Regulations as to the priests’ services. The garments of the priests are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness.

Ezekiel 44:18

The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary priest were made was “linen,” or, more accurately, “byssus,” the cotton stuff of Egypt. The two special qualities of the byssus - white and shining - are characteristic, and on them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Compare Revelation 19:8.

Ezekiel 44:19

They shall not sanctify the people - They shall not touch the people with their holy garments. The word “sanctify” is used because the effect of touching was to separate as holy the persons or things so touched (Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; compare Leviticus 6:18). The priests wore the distinctive dress, only while performing in the temple strictly sacrificial services.

The holy chambers; see Ezekiel 42:1 ff.

Ezekiel 44:22

Restrictions and exceptions intended to mark the holiness of the office of a priest, imposing on him additional (compare the marginal reference) obligations to purity, and communicating it in some degree to his wife. In the Christian Church all the members are “priests” 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 20:6. Hence, the directions for maintaining the holiness of the “priesthood” in the new order, represent the necessity for holiness in all Christians, and the exclusion of the “uncircumcised in heart and in flesh” is equivalent to the exclusion of “all that defileth” from the New Jerusalem Revelation 21:27.

Ezekiel 44:24

There was in Herod’s Temple a council of priests, whose special duty it was to regulate every thing connected with the sanctuary. They did not ordinarily busy themselves with criminal questions, although they took a leading part in the condemnation of Jesus Mark 15:1.

Ezekiel 44:28

It shall be unto them - The remains of the sacrifices were a chief source of the priests’ support. The burnt-offerings being entirely consumed, the priests had the skins, which yielded a considerable revenue; meat-offerings and drink-offerings belonged entirely to them. sin-offerings and trepass-offerings, except in particular cases, also belonged to the priests and were partaken of in the temple. Of the peace-offerings a portion dedicated to the Lord by waving was left for the priests, and the rest eaten by the officers and their friends, either in the courts of the temple, or at least within Jerusalem. The kitchen-courts (K, Plan II Ezek. Ezekiel 46:21-24), were provided in order to prepare these public meals.

Ezekiel 44:30

Oblation - Offering, margin “heave-offering” (see Ezekiel 45:1; Exodus 25:2; Exodus 29:27; Notes and Pref. to Leviticus).


 
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