1. Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh towards the east; and it was shut.
2. Then said the LORD to me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD the God of Israel hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
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 way of the same.
4. Then he brought me the way of the north gate before 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 to me, Son of man mark well, and behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears all that I say to thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary;
6. And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations;
7. In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
8. And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9. Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
10. And the Levites that have gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray 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 to them.
12. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
13. And they shall not come near to me, to do the office of a priest to 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 keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.
15. But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: