Ezekiel 44:21

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הַפְּנִימִֽית

pᵉnîymîy

H6442

“the · inner”

Particle, Definite Article + Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 32× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at 1 Kings 6:27

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6440

TWOT: 1782d

inner

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַפְּנִימִֽית inner H6442 occurs in 29 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
1 adjective
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

יִשְׁתּ֖וּ Qal · Imperfect
בְּבוֹאָ֖ם Qal · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 14 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 44:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 10:9 "Drink no wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, that you don't die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations:
Titus 1:7–8 For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;
Luke 1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
1 Timothy 3:8 Deacons, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money;
1 Timothy 5:23 Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 44:21 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְיַ֥יִן לֹֽא יִשְׁתּ֖וּ כָּל כֹּהֵ֑ן בְּבוֹאָ֖ם אֶל הֶחָצֵ֥ר הַפְּנִימִֽית

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 44:21 Septuagint · lemma form

καί οἶνος οὐ μή πίνω πᾶς ἱερεύς ἐν ὁ εἰςπορεύομαι αὐτός εἰς ὁ αὐλή ὁ ἐσώτερος

And no priest shall drink any wine, when they go into the inner court.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַחֲמַר לָא יִשְׁתּוּן כָּל כְּהַן בְּמֵיעַלְהוֹן לְדַרְתָּא גַוַיְתָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 44:21 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 44:21 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

Ver. 21. Neither shall any priest drink wine.] Wherein is excess. {Eph 5:18 Lev 10:9}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Eze 44:21-23. Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court — That is, during the time of their ministration: see the note on Lev 10:9-10, from whence this law is taken, and where the reason of it is given. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow — This law we find Lev 21:13-14; but it there concerns only the high-priest, here it is applied to all the priests in general. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, &c. — Between good and evil, between what is lawful and what is unlawful; that they may neither scruple what is lawful, nor venture upon what is unlawful; that they may not pollute what is holy, nor pollute themselves with what is profane. Ministers should take pains to cause people to discern between the clean and the unclean, that they may not confound the distinctions between right and wrong, nor mistake concerning them, so as to put darkness for light, or light for darkness; but may have a well-informed judgment, especially in all matters of duty.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Neither . . . wine--lest the holy enthusiasm of their devotion should be mistaken for inebriation, as in Peter's case (Act 2:13, Act 2:15, Act 2:18).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

21. On this prohibition cf. the narrative Lev_10:1-9.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Neither shall any priest drink wine,.... That is, to excess, immoderately, so as to be inebriated with it, Lev 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, Ti1 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, Ti1 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Wine. Leviticus x. 9. The priests on duty abstain from wine. (Josephus, Jewish Wars vi. 15.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Any priest; any one, on any pretence.

Wine, or any other strong intoxicating liquor.

When they enter into the inner court; 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 prohibition you have Lev 10:9, which see, and it was to prevent all indecencies in the service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

21. This was according to Lev_10:9. On ordinary occasions the Jews might drink wine in moderation. The Palestinian wine and the Hebrew temperament differed greatly from the American. There are no drunkards now in Palestine, and even in America it is almost an unheard-of thing for a Jew to give way to alcoholism.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The prohibition of wine to the priests when engaged in temple service accorded with Mosaic legislation. (Lev_10:9) Total abstinence at other times was not enjoined.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

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.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

when they come into the Inner Court to the Heichal.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pᵉnîymîy (“inner”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word pᵉnîymîy carries the sense “inner.” How does it shape the verse?
1 Kings 6:27 shares the word «inner» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «יִשְׁתּ֖וּ» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.