Ezekiel 44:9–16

⁹‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “^aNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

¹⁰“But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who ^awent astray from Me after their idols, shall ^bbear the punishment for their iniquity.

¹¹“Yet they shall be ^aministers in My sanctuary, having ^boversight at the gates of the house and ^cministering in the house; they shall ^dslaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall ^estand before them to minister to them.

¹²“Because they ministered to them ^abefore their idols and became a ^bstumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^1csworn against them,” declares Lord Yahweh, “that they shall ^dbear the punishment for their iniquity.

¹³“And they shall ^anot approach Me to minister as a priest to Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ^bbear their dishonor and their abominations which they have done.

¹⁴“Yet I will ¹appoint them as ^akeepers of the responsibility for the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

The Levitical Responsibilities

¹⁵“But the ^aLevitical priests, the sons of ^bZadok, who ^ckept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ^dwent astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall ^estand before Me to bring near to Me the ^ffat and the blood,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶“They shall ^aenter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ^btable to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me.