Ezekiel 44:22

that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.

and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good,

These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled,

“ ‘They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane. A priest shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.

This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly.

Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”

For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;

Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.

“ ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity.

“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.

About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.

who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things.

yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,

without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance:

to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men.

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

“ ‘You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. “ ‘You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh.

He shall not marry a widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. He shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife.

“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.

But if a priest’s daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s bread; but no stranger shall eat any of it.

“But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her.

When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.

For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Jeshua became the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib became the father of Joiada,

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.

I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited.

Whoever keeps the law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.

His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh.

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;

or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.

For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;

so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.

We exhort you, brothers: Admonish the disorderly; encourage the faint-hearted; support the weak; be patient toward all.

The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;

Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless.

Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things.

but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.

Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,