5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, watch closely and listen carefully to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary.
6 Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel!
7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices.
8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.
9 This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary.
10 “‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin.
11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.