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. Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, (C)five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; (D)in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. It shall be (E)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. (F)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 (G)twenty[b] chambers as a possession.

Properties of the City and the Prince

(H)“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.

(I)“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. The land shall be his possession in Israel; and (J)My princes shall no more oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel, according to their tribes.”

Laws Governing the Prince

‘Thus says the Lord God: (K)“Enough, O princes of Israel! (L)Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people,” says the Lord God. 10 “You shall have (M)honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. 11 The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. 12 The (N)shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

13 “This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. 14 The ordinance concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one-tenth of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten baths, for ten baths are a homer. 15 And one lamb shall be given from a flock of two hundred, from the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, (O)to make atonement for them,” says the Lord God. 16 “All the people of the land shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. 17 Then it shall be the (P)prince’s part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

Keeping the Feasts(Q)

18 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and (R)cleanse the sanctuary. 19 (S)The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the [c]temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month (T)for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.

21 (U)“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land (V)a bull for a sin offering. 23 On the (W)seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, (X)and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. 24 (Y)And he shall prepare a grain offering of one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ephah.

25 “In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the (Z)feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 45:5 Lit. house
  2. Ezekiel 45:5 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX a possession, cities of dwelling
  3. Ezekiel 45:19 Lit. house

Instructions about Divisions of the Renewed Land

45 And when you allocate the land as an inheritance, you shall provide a contribution for Yahweh as a holy portion from the land, its length being twenty-five thousand cubits[a] and its width ten thousand cubits;[b] it is holy in all its territory, all around. And there shall be from this area five hundred cubits[c] by five hundred cubits, squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubits[d][e] of open space shall be for it all around it. And from this measured area you shall measure a length of twenty-five[f] thousand cubits[g] and a width of ten thousand cubits,[h] and in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place.[i] It[j] is a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary who approach[k] to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. And an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand cubits in width will be for the Levites, the servants of the temple. It will serve as property for them as cities to dwell in.[l] And as property of the city, you must set apart alongside the contribution of the sanctuary a portion five thousand cubits[m] in width and twenty-five thousand cubits[n] in length, and it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

And a portion will be for[o] the prince on both sides[p] of the holy district,[q] and both sides of the property of the city, and alongside[r] the property of the city on the west,[s] and alongside the property on the east.[t] And also its length[u] corresponds to one of the tribal portions to the west[v] running to the eastern border.[w] This shall be to him with respect to the land[x] as property in Israel; and so my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.”

Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Enough of this for you, the princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction and do justice and righteousness; revoke your acts of dispossession from upon[y] my people!” declares[z] the Lord Yahweh. 10 There shall be for you an honest set of scales[aa] and an honest ephah[ab] and an honest bath.[ac] 11 The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement;[ad] the tenth part of the homer is the bath, and the tenth of the homer is the ephah; so the homer shall be its[ae] unit of measurement. 12 And the shekel shall weigh twenty gerahs, twenty shekels[af] and five and twenty shekels[ag] and ten and five shekels,[ah] that shall make the mina for you.[ai]

13 This is the contribution offering which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a[aj] homer of wheat, and a[ak] sixth of the ephah from a[al] homer of barley. 14 And the quota of the olive oil, the bath of the olive oil, is the tenth part of a bath from a kor, which is ten baths, or a homer—for ten baths are equal to a homer. 15 And one[am] sheep from the flock from among two hundred from the pastures of Israel will be taken as a grain offering and as a burnt offering and as a fellowship offering to make atonement for them,” declares[an] the Lord Yahweh. 16 “All of the people of the land shall join in[ao] to this contribution with[ap] the prince in Israel.

17 “But on the prince shall be the responsibility for the burnt offerings, and the grain offering, and the libation at the feasts, and at the New Moon festivals, and at[aq] the Sabbaths at all of the assemblies of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the first month on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull, a calf[ar] without defect, and you shall purify the sanctuary. 19 And the priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall put it on the doorframe of the temple[as] and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorframe of the gate of the inner courtyard. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh day in the month for anyone doing wrong inadvertently or due to ignorance, and so you must make atonement for the temple.[at]

21 In the first month, on the fourteenth[au] day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast lasting for seven days,[av] when you shall eat unleavened breads. 22 And the prince shall provide on that day for himself[aw] and for all of the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. 23 And during the seven days of the religious feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without defect for each of the seven days, and as a sin offering a he-goat for each day. 24 And as a grain offering, an ephah for[ax] the bull and an ephah for[ay] the ram he must provide, and a hin of olive oil for each[az] ephah. 25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth[ba] day of the month, during the feast, he shall provide just as he has for these seven days, as he did for the sin offering, as he did for the burnt offering, and as he did for the grain offering, and as he did for the olive oil.’”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 45:1 Or 8.33 miles
  2. Ezekiel 45:1 Hebrew 3.5 miles; LXX reads 6.67 miles in width, or 20,000 cubits (cf. 45:3, 5; 48:9)
  3. Ezekiel 45:2 That is, “875 feet by 875 feet”
  4. Ezekiel 45:2 Hebrew “cubit”
  5. Ezekiel 45:2 That is, “87.5 feet”
  6. Ezekiel 45:3 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  7. Ezekiel 45:3 That is, 8.33 miles; cf. 45:5
  8. Ezekiel 45:3 That is, 3.5 miles; cf. 45:5
  9. Ezekiel 45:3 Literally “the holiness of holinesses”
  10. Ezekiel 45:4 Or “this area”
  11. Ezekiel 45:4 Literally “the ones who approach”
  12. Ezekiel 45:5 Literally “twenty chambers”
  13. Ezekiel 45:6 That is, 1.67 miles
  14. Ezekiel 45:6 That is, 8.33 miles
  15. Ezekiel 45:7 Hebrew “to”
  16. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “from this and from this”
  17. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “the contribution of the holiness”
  18. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “to the front of”
  19. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “from/on the side of the sea”
  20. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “from/on the side of east”
  21. Ezekiel 45:7 Or “portion”
  22. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “corresponding to one of the portions from the boundary of the sea”
  23. Ezekiel 45:7 Literally “to the boundary of the east”
  24. Ezekiel 45:8 Literally “to the land”
  25. Ezekiel 45:9 Or “against”
  26. Ezekiel 45:9 Literally “declaration of”
  27. Ezekiel 45:10 Literally “a set of scales of justice/honesty”
  28. Ezekiel 45:10 Literally “an ephah of honesty”
  29. Ezekiel 45:10 Literally “a bath of honesty”; a bath is a liquid measure
  30. Ezekiel 45:11 Or “shall be the same size”
  31. Ezekiel 45:11 Or “the”
  32. Ezekiel 45:12 Hebrew “shekel”
  33. Ezekiel 45:12 Hebrew “shekel”
  34. Ezekiel 45:12 Hebrew “shekel”
  35. Ezekiel 45:12 Meaning of Hebrew uncertain
  36. Ezekiel 45:13 Or “each”; literally “the”
  37. Ezekiel 45:13 Literally “the”
  38. Ezekiel 45:13 Literally “the”
  39. Ezekiel 45:15 Or “a”
  40. Ezekiel 45:15 Literally “declaration of”
  41. Ezekiel 45:16 Or “participate/ take part in”
  42. Ezekiel 45:16 Or possibly “for/to”
  43. Ezekiel 45:17 Or “on”
  44. Ezekiel 45:18 Literally “son of cattle,” or “son of the herd”
  45. Ezekiel 45:19 Or “house”
  46. Ezekiel 45:20 Or “house”
  47. Ezekiel 45:21 Literally “four ten”
  48. Ezekiel 45:21 Literally “a week of days”
  49. Ezekiel 45:22 Hebrew “him”
  50. Ezekiel 45:24 Hebrew “to”
  51. Ezekiel 45:24 Hebrew “to”
  52. Ezekiel 45:24 Literally “the”
  53. Ezekiel 45:25 Literally “five ten”