The Holy District

45 “When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty^[a] thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent.

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

²⁰ On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the cooking pots in the house of the Lord shall be as holy as^[a] the bowls in front of the altar,^{(A) 21} and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders^[b] in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.^(B)

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

⁸ Adjoining the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be the portion that you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west, with the sanctuary in the middle of it.^{(A) 9} The portion that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and twenty^[a] thousand in width. ¹⁰ These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment measuring twenty-five thousand cubits on the northern side, ten thousand cubits in width on the western side, ten thousand in width on the eastern side, and twenty-five thousand in length on the southern side, with the sanctuary of the Lord in the middle of it.^{(B) 11} As for the consecrated priests, the descendants^[b] of Zadok who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites did,^{(C) 12} they shall have a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place, adjoining the territory of the Levites.^{(D) 13} Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an allotment twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. The whole length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the width twenty^[c] thousand.^{(E) 14} They shall not sell or exchange any of it; they shall not transfer this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.^(F)

¹⁵ The remainder, five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for ordinary use for the city, for dwellings and for pasturelands. In the middle of it shall be the city,^{(G) 16} and these shall be its dimensions: 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.^{(H) 17} The city shall have pasturelands: on the north two hundred fifty cubits, on the south two hundred fifty, on the east two hundred fifty, on the west two hundred fifty.^{(I) 18} The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion. Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city.^{(J) 19} The workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it.^{(K) 20} The whole portion that you shall set apart shall be twenty-five thousand cubits square, that is, the holy portion together with the property of the city.^(L)

²¹ What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince. Extending from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the holy portion to the east border and westward from the twenty-five thousand cubits to the west border, parallel to the tribal portions, it shall belong to the prince. The holy portion with the sanctuary of the temple in the middle of it,^{(M) 22} and the property of the Levites and of the city, shall be in the middle 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.^(N)

²¹ So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have fathered children among you. They shall be to you as native-born of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.^(A)

² Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. ³ In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. ⁴ It shall be a 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 both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.^{(A) 5} Another section, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their holding for cities to live in.^[a](B)

⁶ “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign as a holding for the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.^(C)

⁷ “And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the holding of the city, alongside the holy district and the holding 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^(D)