²³ only he shall not go near the ^(A)veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest ^(B)he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”

^12 (A)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the ^(B)consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.

⁹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(A)“No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

Laws Governing Priests

^10 (B)“And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, ^(C)as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; ^(D)they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(E)they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and ^(F)caused^[a] the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have ^(G)raised My hand in an oath against them,” says the Lord God, “that they shall bear their iniquity. ^13 (H)And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall ^(I)bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴ Nevertheless I will make them ^(J)keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it.

³¹ ‘Thus you shall ^(A)separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness when they ^(B)defile My tabernacle that is among them.

^26 (A)He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; ^27 (B)and he burned sweet incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ And you shall put it before the ^(A)veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the ^(B)mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.

⁷ “Aaron shall burn on it ^(C)sweet incense every morning; when ^(D)he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. ⁸ And when Aaron lights the lamps ^[a]at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.