⁶² These looked for their entries in the genealogical records, but they were not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean;^(A)

¹⁰ But you shall enroll Aaron and his descendants; it is they who shall attend to the priesthood, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”^(A)

¹⁰ But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.^{(A) 11} They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them.^{(B) 12} Because they ministered to them before their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into iniquity, therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment.^{(C) 13} They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred offerings, the things that are most sacred, but they shall bear their shame and the consequences of the abominations that they have committed.^{(D) 14} Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it.^(E)

⁷ But you and your sons with you shall diligently perform your priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and the area behind the curtain. I give your priesthood as a gift;^[a] any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.”^(A)

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar— ⁴⁰ a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his congregation, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.^(A)

²¹ No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[a] since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.^{(A) 22} He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy. ²³ But he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”^(B)