The Holy District

45 “When ^(A)you allot the land as an inheritance, ^(B)you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits^[a] long and 20,000^[b] cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent.

²⁹ This is the land that ^(A)you shall allot as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the Lord God.

²⁰ And ^(A)on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ^(B)“Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. ²¹ And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be ^(C)holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And ^(D)there shall no longer be ^(E)a trader^[a] in the house of the Lord of hosts ^(F)on that day.

¹³ Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)“This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.

⁸ “Adjoining the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be ^(A)the portion which you shall set apart, 25,000 cubits^[a] in breadth, and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west, with ^(B)the sanctuary in the midst of it. ⁹ The portion that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be 25,000 cubits in length, and 20,000^[b] in breadth. ^10 (C)These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment measuring 25,000 cubits on the northern side, 10,000 cubits in breadth on the western side, 10,000 in breadth on the eastern side, and 25,000 in length on the southern side, with the sanctuary of the Lord in the midst of it. ¹¹ This shall be for ^(D)the consecrated priests, ^(E)the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, ^(F)as the Levites did. ¹² And it shall belong to them as a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place, adjoining the territory of the Levites. ^13 (G)And alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an allotment 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in breadth. The whole length shall be 25,000 cubits and the breadth 20,000.^{[c] 14} They ^(H)shall not sell or exchange any of it. They shall not alienate ^(I)this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.

^15 (J)“The remainder, 5,000 cubits in breadth and 25,000 in length, shall be ^(K)for common use for the city, for dwellings and for ^(L)open country. In the midst of it shall be the city, ¹⁶ and these shall be its measurements: ^(M)the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500, the east side 4,500, and the west side 4,500. ¹⁷ And the city shall have open land: on the north 250 cubits, on the south 250, on the east 250, and on the west 250. ¹⁸ The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be 10,000 cubits to the east, and 10,000 to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion. ^(N)Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. ¹⁹ And the workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall till it. ²⁰ The whole portion that ^(O)you shall set apart shall be 25,000 cubits square, that is, the holy portion together with the property of the city.

^21 (P)“What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince. Extending from the 25,000 cubits of the holy portion to the east border, and westward from the 25,000 cubits to the west border, parallel to the tribal portions, it shall belong to the prince. ^(Q)The holy portion with the sanctuary of the temple shall be in its midst. ²² It shall be separate from the property of the Levites and the property of the city, which are in the midst of that which belongs to the prince. The portion of the prince shall lie between the territory of Judah and the territory of Benjamin.

²³ “As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west, Benjamin, one portion.

^21 (A)“So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ^22 (B)You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and ^(C)for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. ^(D)They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

^2 (A)Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for ^(B)an open space around it. ³ And ^(C)from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, ^(D)in which shall be the sanctuary, ^(E)the Most Holy Place. ^4 (F)It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ^5 (G)Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.^[a]

⁶ “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district ^(H)you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. ^(I)It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

The Portion for the Prince

^7 (J)“And to ^(K)the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary