Ezekiel 44:22

THE MESSAGE

"Priests are not to marry widows or divorcees, but only Israelite virgins or widows of priests.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but may marry only a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Yisra'el, or a widow who is the widow of a Kohen.

King James Version
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.

English Standard Version
They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

New American Standard Bible
"And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but shall take virgins from the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

New Century Version
The priests must not marry widows or divorced women. They may marry only virgins from the people of Israel or widows of priests.

Amplified Bible
"And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman; but they shall marry virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who was previously married to a priest.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall they take for their wiues a widowe, or her that is diuorced: but they shall take maidens of the seede of the house of Israel, or a widow that hath bene the widow of a Priest.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Legacy Standard Bible
And 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.

Berean Standard Bible
And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.

Contemporary English Version
A priest must not marry a divorced woman; he can marry only a virgin from Israel or the widow of another priest.

Complete Jewish Bible
They may not marry a widow or a divorcee but must marry virgins descended from the house of Isra'el or a widow whose deceased husband was a cohen.

Darby Translation
And they shall not take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

Easy-to-Read Version
The priests must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. No, they must only marry a virgin from the family of Israel or a woman whose dead husband was a priest.

George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall they marry a widow nor her that is put away; but they shall marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Good News Translation
No priest may marry a divorced woman; he is to marry only an Israelite virgin or the widow of another priest.

Lexham English Bible
And a widow or divorced woman they shall not take for themselves as wives, but only a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

Literal Translation
And they shall not take a widow or a divorcee, for wives for themselves, but they shall only take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They shall mary no wydowe, nether one that is put from hir hu?bonde: but a mayde of the sede of the house of Israel, or a wydowe, that hath had a prest before.

American Standard Version
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

Bible in Basic English
And they are not to take as wives any widow or woman whose husband has put her away: but they may take virgins of the seed of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

King James Version (1611)
Neither shall they take for their wiues a widow, or her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seede of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They shall mary no widowe, neither one that is put from her husband: but a maide of the seede of the house of Israel, or a widowe that hath had a priest before.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Neither shall they take to themselves to wife a widow, or one that is put away, but a virgin of the seed of Israel: but if there should happen to be a priest’s widow, they shall take her.

English Revised Version
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

World English Bible
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And preestis schulen not take wyues a widewe, and a forsakun womman, but virgyns of the seed of the hous of Israel; but also thei schulen take a widewe, which is the widewe of a preest.

Update Bible Version
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.

New English Translation
They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel or a widow who is a priest's widow.

New King James Version
They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.

New Living Translation
They may choose their wives only from among the virgins of Israel or the widows of the priests. They may not marry other widows or divorced women.

New Life Bible
They must not marry a woman whose husband has died, or who has been divorced. But they may marry women of Israel who have never had a man, or a woman whose husband was a religious leader before he died.

New Revised Standard
They shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Neither widow nor divorced woman, shall they take to them to wife, - But, virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, Or a widow who shall be the widow of a priest shall they take.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that is divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel: but they may take a widow also, that is, the widow of a priest.

Revised Standard Version
They shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Young's Literal Translation
And a widow and divorced woman they do not take to them for wives: but -- virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, and the widow who is widow of a priest, do they take.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷"When they enter the gate complex of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woolens are to be worn while serving at the gate complex of the inside courtyard or inside the Temple itself. They're to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes—nothing that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes they have been serving in, leaving them in the sacred rooms where they change to their everyday clothes, so that they don't trivialize their holy work by the way they dress. ²⁰ "They are to neither shave their heads nor let their hair become unkempt, but must keep their hair trimmed and neat. ²¹ "No priest is to drink on the job—no wine while in the inside courtyard. ²² "Priests are not to marry widows or divorcees, but only Israelite virgins or widows of priests. ²³ "Their job is to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, to show them how to discern between unclean and clean. ²⁴ "When there's a difference of opinion, the priests will arbitrate. They'll decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes. They are in charge of making sure the appointed feasts are honored and my Sabbaths kept holy in the ways I've commanded. ²⁵"A priest must not contaminate himself by going near a corpse. But when the dead person is his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, he can approach the dead. But after he has been purified, he must wait another seven days. Then, when he returns to the inside courtyard of the Sanctuary to do his priestly work in the Sanctuary, he must first offer a sin offering for himself. Decree of God , the Master. ²⁸"As to priests owning land, I am their inheritance. Don't give any land in Israel to them. I am their ‘land,' their inheritance. They'll take their meals from the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel offered to God in worship is theirs. The best of everything grown, plus all special gifts, comes to the priests. All that is given in worship to God goes to them. Serve them first. Serve from your best and your home will be blessed. ³¹ "Priests are not to eat any meat from bird or animal unfit for ordinary human consumption, such as carcasses found dead on the road or in the field."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Neither: This was prohibited only to the high priest under the law; but is here extended to all the priests, perhaps to intimate the superior sanctity of the times to which it refers.

a widow: Leviticus 21:7, Leviticus 21:13, Leviticus 21:14, 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:4, 1 Timothy 3:5, 1 Timothy 3:11, 1 Timothy 3:12, Titus 1:6

put away: Heb. thrust forth, Deuteronomy 24:1-4

that had a priest before: Heb. from a priest

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 24:2 - she may go Ezra 10:18 - the sons 2 Corinthians 11:2 - a chaste

Cross-References

Genesis 42:38
But Jacob refused. "My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead and he is all I have left. If something bad happens to him on the road, you'll put my gray, sorrowing head in the grave."

Genesis 44:30
"And now, can't you see that if I show up before your servant, my father, without the boy, this son with whom his life is so bound up, the moment he realizes the boy is gone, he'll die on the spot. He'll die of grief and we, your servants who are standing here before you, will have killed him. And that's not all. I got my father to release the boy to show him to you by promising, ‘If I don't bring him back, I'll stand condemned before you, Father, all my life.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall they take for their wives a widow,.... Who has been not only another man's, but at her own will, and done her own pleasure, and been her own mistress, and so not easily brought into subjection, and to behave as becoming her station:

or her that is put away; or, "thrust forth" q; out of doors; whose husband has given her a bill of divorce; since she may be suspected of having done some ill thing:

but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel; virgins, and not of the families of unconverted persons, who have been brought up in an irreligious way, but of godly families, and who have had a religious education:

or a widow that had a priest before: and so used to religious exercises, and to the manner of living of such persons. All good men should be careful whom they marry, and especially ministers of the Gospel; who are here supposed and allowed to marry, contrary to the church of Rome, which forbids her priests to marry. It is observed by some, and with great propriety, that in the latter days antichristian churches will be disowned; and that godly faithful ministers will become pastors, and take the care of such churches, who are like a chaste virgin espoused to Christ, and such who have had faithful pastors over them before. This seems to refer to the law concerning the marriage of the high priest, Leviticus 21:13, and what is there enjoined him is here enjoined all the priests of the Lord; and therefore, as Kimchi rightly observes, this is a new rule respecting future times.

q גדושה "expulsam", Montanus, Heb; "ejectam", Piscator.

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).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 44:22. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow — This was prohibited to the high priest only, by Moses, Leviticus 21:13-14.