11. They will serve in my sanctuary only as gatekeepers and temple servants; they will slaughter burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people. They will stand before the people to serve them.
12. Because they used to serve them before their idols, thus becoming a stumbling block to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn an oath against them, says the Lord God, and they will bear the consequences of their sin.
13. They shall no longer come near to serve as my priests, nor shall they touch any of my sacred things or my most sacred offerings, for they must bear their shame, the abominations they committed.
14. Instead I will make them responsible for the service of the temple and all its work, for everything that must be done in it.
15. As for the levitical priests, sons of Zadok, who took charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed from me, they may approach me to serve me and stand before me to offer the fat and the blood—oracle of the Lord God.
16. They may enter my sanctuary; they may approach my table to serve me and carry out my service.
17. Whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments; they shall not put on anything woolen when they serve at the gates of the inner court or within the temple.
18. They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.
19. And when they go out to the people in the outer court, they shall take off the garments in which they served and leave them in the rooms of the sanctuary, and put on other garments so they do not transmit holiness to the people by their garments.
20. They shall not shave their heads nor let their hair hang loose, but they shall keep their hair carefully trimmed.
21. No priest shall drink wine before he enters the inner court.
22. They shall not take as wives either widows or divorced women, but only unmarried women from the line of Israel; however, they may take as wives widows who are widows of priests.
23. They shall teach my people to distinguish between sacred and profane and make known to them the difference between clean and unclean.
24. In legal cases they shall stand as judges, judging according to my ordinances. They shall observe all my laws and statutes regarding all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my sabbaths holy.
25. They shall not make themselves unclean by going near a dead body; only for their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister may they make themselves unclean.