The Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.^(A)

¹¹ As for the consecrated priests, the descendants^[a] of Zadok who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites did,^(A)

⁷ in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[a] have broken my covenant with all your abominations.^(A)

¹⁹ you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord God, a bull of the herd for a purification offering.^(A)

⁴⁶ and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Zadok, who alone among the descendants of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.”^(A)

Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan

3 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord and the accuser^[a] standing at his right hand to accuse him.^{(A) 2} And the Lord said to the accuser,^[b] “The Lord rebuke you, O accuser!^[c] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?”^{(B) 3} Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel^[d] said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.”^{(C) 5} And he said,^[e] “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with apparel, and the angel of the Lord was standing by.^(D)

⁶ Then the angel of the Lord warned Joshua, saying ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.^(E)

⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.^(A)

⁵ This is in order that the Israelites may bring their sacrifices that they offer in the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and offer them as sacrifices of well-being to the Lord. ⁶ The priest shall dash the blood against the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and turn the fat into smoke as a pleasing odor to the Lord,^(A)

¹⁶ Then the priest shall turn these into smoke on the altar as a food offering by fire^[a] for a pleasing odor.

“All fat is the Lord’s.^{(A) 17} It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.”^(B)