“So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigners, including those who live among the people of Israel, will enter my sanctuary if they have not been circumcised and have not surrendered themselves to the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
- KJV Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
- BSB This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.
- NKJV Thus says the Lord God: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.
- NASB ‘This is what the Lord God says: “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God forbids any foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh from entering His sanctuary.
Overview
The Lord reaffirms the boundary protecting His holy presence from the unconsecrated. The emphasis on the 'uncircumcised in heart' shows the issue is unconverted, unbelieving allegiance, not ethnicity itself, since faithful foreigners were elsewhere welcomed. The gospel later opens the sanctuary to all nations through faith in Christ, who circumcises the heart by His Spirit (Ephesians 2:13-19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Joel 3:17“So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
- Zech 14:21Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.
- Ezek 44:7in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
- Mark 16:16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- John 3:3–5Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
- Ps 93:5Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, Yahweh, forever more.
- Titus 1:5–9I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;
- Ps 50:16But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
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The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 44:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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