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. ^2 (C)Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for ^(D)an open space around it. ³ And ^(E)from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, ^(F)in which shall be the sanctuary, ^(G)the Most Holy Place. ^4 (H)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 (I)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.^[c]

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

The Portion for the Prince

^7 (L)“And to ^(M)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 ⁸ of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And ^(N)my princes shall no more oppress my people, but ^(O)they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(P)Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease ^(Q)your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God.

^10 (R)“You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.^{[d] 11} The ephah and the bath shall be ^(S)of the same measure, ^(T)the bath containing one tenth of a homer,^[e] and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. ^12 (U)The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;^[f] twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.^[g]

^13 (V)“This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, ¹⁴ and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor^[h] (the cor, like the homer, contains ^(W)ten baths).^{[i] 15} And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, ^(X)to make atonement for them, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. ^17 (Y)It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

¹⁸ “Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, ^(Z)on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and ^(AA)purify the sanctuary. ^19 (AB)The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it ^(AC)on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.

^21 (AD)“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day the prince ^(AE)shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. ²³ And on ^(AF)the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and ^(AG)a male goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ And ^(AH)he shall provide as ^(AI)a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin^[j] of oil to each ephah. ^25 (AJ)In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, ^(AK)he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

The Prince and the Feasts

46 “Thus says the Lord God: ^(AL)The gate of ^(AM)the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and ^(AN)on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ^2 (AO)The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by ^(AP)the post of the gate. ^(AQ)The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at ^(AR)the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ^3 (AS)The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. ^4 (AT)The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord ^(AU)on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. ⁵ And ^(AV)the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,^[k] and the grain offering with the lambs shall be ^(AW)as much as he is able, together with a hin^[l] of oil to each ephah. ⁶ On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷ As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs ^(AX)as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. ^8 (AY)When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

^9 (AZ)“When the people of the land ^(BA)come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. ¹⁰ When they enter, ^(BB)the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹ “At the feasts and the appointed festivals, ^(BC)the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs ^(BD)as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. ¹² When the prince provides ^(BE)a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, ^(BF)the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings ^(BG)as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.

^13 (BH)“You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴ And ^(BI)you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. ¹⁵ Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for ^(BJ)a regular burnt offering.

¹⁶ “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he makes a gift ^(BK)out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to ^(BL)the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. ^18 (BM)The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, ^(BN)thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be ^(BO)scattered from his property.”

Boiling Places for Offerings

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the entrance, which was ^(BP)at the side of the gate, to the north row of ^(BQ)the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. ²⁰ And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests ^(BR)shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where ^(BS)they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so ^(BT)transmit holiness to the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— ²² in the four corners of the court were small^[m] courts, forty cubits^[n] long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. ²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who ^(BU)minister at the temple ^(BV)shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, ^(A)they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(B)to be called their God, for ^(C)he has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷ By faith ^(D)Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, ^(E)“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ^19 (F)He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰ By faith ^(G)Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By faith ^(H)Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ^(I)bowing in worship over the head of his staff. ²² By faith ^(J)Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

²³ By faith ^(K)Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of ^(L)the king's edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, ^(M)refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ^25 (N)choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy ^(O)the fleeting pleasures of sin. ^26 (P)He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to ^(Q)the reward. ²⁷ By faith he ^(R)left Egypt, ^(S)not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured ^(T)as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith ^(U)he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹ By faith ^(V)the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰ By faith ^(W)the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith ^(X)Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she ^(Y)had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

³² And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of ^(Z)Gideon, ^(AA)Barak, ^(AB)Samson, ^(AC)Jephthah, of ^(AD)David and ^(AE)Samuel and the prophets— ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, ^(AF)stopped the mouths of lions, ^34 (AG)quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, ^(AH)became mighty in war, ^(AI)put foreign armies to flight. ^35 (AJ)Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even ^(AK)chains and imprisonment. ^37 (AL)They were stoned, they were sawn in two,^{[a] (AM)}they were killed with the sword. ^(AN)They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—^(AO)wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And all these, ^(AP)though commended through their faith, ^(AQ)did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, ^(AR)that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Unless the Lord Builds the House

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of Solomon.