The Holy District

45 “Moreover, when you ^(A)divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall ^(B)set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around.

^29 (A)This is the land which you shall divide by lot as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions,” says the Lord God.

²⁰ In that day ^(A)“HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The ^(B)pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹ Yes, ^[a]every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a ^(C)Canaanite ^(D)in the house of the Lord of hosts.

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

⁸ by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be ^(A)the district which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length the same as one of the other portions, from the east side to the west, with the ^(B)sanctuary in the center.

⁹ “The district that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. ¹⁰ To these—to the priests—the holy district shall belong: on the north twenty-five thousand cubits in length, on the west ten thousand in width, on the east ten thousand in width, and on the south twenty-five thousand in length. The sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the center. ^11 (C)It shall be for the priests of the sons of Zadok, who are sanctified, who have kept My charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, ^(D)as the Levites went astray. ¹² And this district of land that is set apart shall be to them a thing most ^(E)holy by the border of the Levites.

¹³ “Opposite the border of the priests, the ^(F)Levites shall have an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width; its entire length shall be twenty-five thousand and its width ten thousand. ^14 (G)And they shall not sell or exchange any of it; they may not alienate this best part of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.

^15 (H)“The five thousand cubits in width that remain, along the edge of the twenty-five thousand, shall be ^(I)for general use by the city, for dwellings and common-land; and the city shall be in the center. ¹⁶ These shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. ¹⁷ The common-land of the city shall be: to the north two hundred and fifty cubits, to the south two hundred and fifty, to the east two hundred and fifty, and to the west two hundred and fifty. ¹⁸ The rest of the length, alongside the district of the holy section, shall be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west. It shall be adjacent to the district of the holy section, and its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. ^19 (J)The workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. ²⁰ The entire district shall be twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand cubits, foursquare. You shall set apart the holy district with the property of the city.

^21 (K)“The rest shall belong to the prince, on one side and on the other of the holy district and of the city’s property, next to the twenty-five thousand cubits of the holy district as far as the eastern border, and westward next to the twenty-five thousand as far as the western border, adjacent to the tribal portions; it shall belong to the prince. It shall be the holy district, ^(L)and the sanctuary of the ^[a]temple shall be in the center. ²² Moreover, apart from the possession of the Levites and the possession of the city which are in the midst of what belongs to the prince, the area between the border of Judah and the border of ^(M)Benjamin shall belong to the prince.

²³ “As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west, Benjamin shall have one section;

²¹ “Thus you shall ^(A)divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²² It shall be that you will divide it by ^(B)lot as an inheritance for yourselves, ^(C)and for the strangers who dwell among you and who bear children among you. ^(D)They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

² Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, ^(A)five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. ³ So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; ^(B)in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It shall be ^(C)a holy section of the land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ^5 (D)An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the ^[a]temple; they shall have ^(E)twenty^[b] chambers as a possession.

Properties of the City and the Prince

^6 (F)“You shall appoint as the property of the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, adjacent to the district of the holy section; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

^7 (G)“The prince shall have a section on one side and the other of the holy district and the city’s property; and bordering on the holy district and the city’s property, extending westward on the west side and eastward on the east side, the length shall be side by side with one of the tribal portions, from the west border to the east border.