2. Then said the LORD unto me;
3. It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the same way.
4. Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
5. And the LORD said unto me,
6. And you shall say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; O you house of Israel, let there be an end of all your abominations,
7. In that you have brought into my sanctuary foreigners, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my food, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
8. And you have not kept charge of my holy things: but you have set others as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary instead of yourselves.
9. Thus says the Lord GOD; No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigner that is among the children of Israel.
10. And the Levites who have gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
11. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
12. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
13. And they shall not come near unto me, to serve the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.
14. But I will make them to keep charge of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done in it.
15. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD:
16. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
17. And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and inside.