Ezekiel 44:9-16

English Standard Version

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(A)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰ But ^(B)the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^(C)when Israel went astray, ^(D)shall bear their punishment.^{[a] 11} They shall be ^(E)ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^(F)at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(G)they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^(H)a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^(I)sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³ They ^(J)shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^(K)they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴ Yet I will appoint them to keep ^(L)charge of the temple, ^(M)to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But ^(N)the Levitical priests, ^(O)the sons of Zadok, who kept ^(P)the charge of my sanctuary ^(Q)when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^(R)to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^(S)the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^(T)my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.