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:
16. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to 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 within.
18. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
19. And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
20. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
21. Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
22. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
23. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
24. And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
25. And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.
26. And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.
27. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord GOD.