Then he said to them: “Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the House of Adonai, the God of your fathers, and remove the defilement out of the holy place.
He told them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. Sanctify yourselves, you and your kinsmen, so that you may bring up the Ark of Adonai, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.
The kohanim, however, were too few to flay all the burnt offerings, so their kinsmen, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed, and until other kohanim had consecrated themselves. For the Levites had been more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the kohanim.
Something like the form of a hand stretched out, and took me by the hair of my head. The Ruach lifted me up between the earth and the heaven. He brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court facing north—where the idol that provokes furious jealousy was.
He said to me: “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here, that drives me far off from My own Sanctuary? But you will see even greater abominations.”
Gather the people; sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even those nursing at breasts. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her chamber.
What agreement does God’s Temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God—just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Therefore, since we have these promises, loved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.