Study Desk

'This is what the Lord GOD says: "^(C1)No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

"But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who ^(C1)went astray from Me ^(F1)following their idols, shall ^(C2)suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing.

"Yet they shall be ^(C1)ministers in My sanctuary, having ^(C2)oversight at the gates of the house and ^(C3)ministering in the house; they shall ^(C4)slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall ^(C5)stand before them to minister to them.

"Since they ministered to them ^(C1)before their idols and became a ^(C2)stumbling block of wrongdoing to the house of Israel, for that reason I have ^(F1)(C3)sworn against them," declares the Lord GOD, "that they shall ^(C4)suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing.

"And they shall ^(C1)not approach Me to serve as priests for Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ^(C2)bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

"Nevertheless I will ^(F1)appoint them ^(F2)to ^(C1)take responsibility for the house, of all its service and of everything that shall be done in it.

"But the ^(C1)Levitical priests, the sons of ^(C2)Zadok, who ^(F1)(C3)took responsibility for My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ^(C4)went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to serve Me; and they shall ^(C5)stand before Me to offer Me the ^(C6)fat and the blood," declares the Lord GOD.

"They shall ^(C1)enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ^(C2)table to serve Me and ^(F1)assume the responsibility I give them.