1. Then the man brought me back to the outer east gate of the Temple area. The gate was shut.
2. The Lord said to me, “This gate will stay shut. It will not be opened. No one may enter through it. This is because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it. So it must stay shut.
3. Only the ruler himself may sit in the gateway to eat bread before the Lord. He must enter through the porch of the gateway and go out the same way.”
4. Then the man brought me through the outer north gate. He brought me to the front of the Temple. I looked and saw the greatness of the Lord. It was filling the Temple of the Lord. I bowed facedown on the ground.
5. The Lord said to me, “Human being, pay attention. See this with your eyes. And hear this with your ears. See and hear everything I tell you about all the rules and teachings of the Temple of the Lord. Pay attention to the entrance to the Temple and to all the exits from the Temple area.
6. Then speak to those who refuse to obey. Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Stop doing all your acts that I hate, Israel!
7. You brought foreigners into my Holy Place. They were not circumcised in the flesh. They had not given themselves to serving me. You dishonored my Temple when you offered me food, fat and blood. You broke my agreement by all your ways that I hate.
8. And you have not taken care of my holy things. You put foreigners in charge of my Temple.
9. This is what the Lord God says: Foreigners who are not circumcised in flesh and who do not give themselves to serving me may not enter my Temple. Even a foreigner living among the people of Israel may not enter.
10. “‘Some Levites stopped obeying me when Israel left me and followed their idols. These Levites must be punished for their sin.