⁴ So shall you know that I have sent ^(A)this command to you, that ^(B)my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts.

¹² “Behold, ^(A)I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine,

²³ So I will show my greatness and my ^(A)holiness and ^(B)make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then ^(C)they will know that I am the Lord.

^2 (A)Every branch in me that does not bear fruit ^(B)he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, ^(C)that it may bear more fruit.

¹² His ^(A)winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^(B)gather his wheat into the barn, ^(C)but the chaff he will burn with ^(D)unquenchable fire.”

^9 (A)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

^29 (A)Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood ^(B)and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

^11 (A)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(B)the kingdom of God has come near.’

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.