Beginning
Other Festivals and the Prince
46 This is what the Lord God says.
The gate into the inner courtyard which faces east must remain closed on the six work days, but on the Sabbath day it is to be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. 2 The prince is to enter through the vestibule of the gateway at the outer, eastern end of the gatehouse and stand by the gatepost, and the priests are to offer his burnt offering and fellowship offerings. He is to prostrate himself on the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be closed until evening. 3 The people of the land are to prostrate themselves before the Lord at the entrance to that gate on Sabbaths and New Moons.
4 The burnt offering that the prince is to offer to the Lord on the day of the Sabbath is to consist of six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 The grain offering is to be an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs the grain offering is to be as much as he can afford, with a hin of oil per ephah. 6 On the day of the New Moon, he is to offer a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram. They are to be without blemish. 7 He is to provide an ephah for the bull and an ephah for the ram as a grain offering, and for the lambs as much as he can afford, with a hin of oil per ephah.
8 When the prince enters, he is to come in through the vestibule of the gateway, and he is to go out by the same way. 9 When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, anyone who enters through the north gate in order to prostrate himself must go out through the south gate, and anyone who enters through the south gate must go out through the north gate. No one may return through the same gate through which he entered. He definitely must leave by going straight ahead to the opposite gate. 10 The prince is to be in their midst. When they enter, he shall enter, and when they leave, both he and they shall leave.
11 At the pilgrimage festivals and the appointed festivals, the grain offering is to be an ephah for a bull and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs it is to be as much as he can afford, with a hin of oil per ephah. 12 When the prince makes a voluntary offering to the Lord, either as a burnt offering or fellowship offering, the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offerings just as he does on the day of the Sabbath. When he goes out, the gate is to be closed after he leaves. 13 You are to provide a yearling lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord every day. Every morning you are to provide it. 14 You are to provide a grain offering with it every morning: one sixth of an ephah and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. It is a grain offering for the Lord. These are lasting statutes to be performed daily. 15 In this way they will offer the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a daily burnt offering.
Inheritance of the Prince’s Property
16 This is what the Lord God says.
If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is the son’s inheritance and will also belong to his sons. It is to be their property by inheritance. 17 But if the prince gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to him only until the year of liberty,[a] when it must revert to the prince. It is his inheritance alone and must remain with his sons. 18 The prince may not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. From his own property he is to give an inheritance to his sons, so that my people will not be scattered—not a single man from his property.
The Kitchens for Sacrifices
19 Then he took me through the entrance into the holy rooms for the priests that were located on the north side of the temple, beside the north gatehouse. Looking toward the west, I saw that there was a special place at the back of the temple area.[b] 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests are to boil the restitution offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offerings in order not to bring them out to the outer courtyard and transmit holiness to the people.”
21 Then he brought me out to the outer courtyard and led me past the four corners of the courtyard. I saw there was a court at each corner of the courtyard[c]— a court in each corner of the courtyard.[d] 22 In the four corners of the courtyard were enclosed[e] courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide[f]—the same measurement for each of the four of them.[g] 23 A stone structure went all around the inside of all four of the rooms, and hearths for boiling were constructed beneath the structure all the way around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister in the temple are to boil the sacrifices of the people.”
Life-Giving Water in the New Creation
47 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw that water was flowing out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.
2 He brought me out through the north gate that led into the inner courtyard and led me around on the outside of the temple to the outer gateway on the east side, and I saw that water was trickling out from its south side. 3 As the man went out toward the east, he had a measuring line in his hand. He measured off a thousand cubits,[h] and then he led me through the water. The water was ankle-deep. 4 Then he measured off another thousand cubits and led me through the water. The water was knee-deep. He measured a thousand more and led me through water that was now waist-deep. 5 He measured a thousand more, but now it was a river that I was not able to cross, because the water had risen so much that one would have to swim across it. It was a river that could not be forded.
6 Then he asked me, “Have you noticed anything, son of man?” and he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I returned there, I noticed that on the banks of the river there were a large number of trees, on both sides.
8 Then he said to me, “These waters are flowing out to the eastern part of the land. They go down to the Arabah and go into the sea,[i] into the sea whose waters are unusable,[j] and then the waters of the sea are made fresh.[k] 9 Every living creature that swarms can live wherever the stream flows. There will be a large number of fish because these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea have been made fresh, so every living creature can live everywhere the river goes. 10 There will be fishermen standing beside it from En Gedi to En Eglaim, and there will be places for them to spread their nets to dry. There will be all kinds of fish there, like the fish of the Great Sea[l]—so very many. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not be made fresh. They will be left to provide salt. 12 Beside the river, on both its banks, every kind of tree will grow for providing food. Their leaves will never wither, and their fruit will never fail. Every month they will bear fruit because their waters flow out from the sanctuary. Its fruit will provide food, and its leaves will be for healing.
The Divisions of the Land
13 This is what the Lord God says.
These are the boundaries you are to use to divide the land as an inheritance for the twelve tribes of Israel.
(Joseph is to have two portions.)
14 You will assign equal portions of the land that I swore with uplifted hand to give to your fathers. This is how the land will be allotted to you as an inheritance.
15 These are to be the boundaries of the land:
On the north side, the boundary goes from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to Lebo Hamath to Zedad,[m] 16 Beruthah, and Sibraim, which is on the border between the territories of Damascus and Hamath, as far as Hazer Hattikon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 So the border will be from the sea to Hazar Enon, on the border of Damascus to the north, which also is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
18 On the east side, the border will run from Hazar Enon between Hauran and Damascus. Between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan is the border as far as the Eastern Sea.[n] The border then will run to Tamar.[o] This is the east side.
19 On the south side, in the Negev, the border will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Stream of Egypt to the Great Sea. This is the southern boundary in the Negev.
20 On the west side, the Great Sea is the border until a point opposite Lebo Hamath. This is the west side.
21 In this way you are to divide this land for yourselves, for the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have fathered children among you. They are to be treated like someone who is native-born among the sons of Israel. With you they are to receive allotments as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe an alien has settled, there you are to give him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.
The New Holy Land
The Northern Tribes
48 These are the names of the tribes.
The northern border runs east to west along the road between Hethlon, Lebo Hamath, and Hazar Enon, which forms the northern border of the territory of Damascus with the territory of Hamath.[p] South of that line there will be one portion for Dan.
2 South of[q] the boundary of Dan, from the east side to the west side of the land, there is to be one portion for Asher.
3 South of the boundary of Asher, from the east side to the west side, there is to be one portion for Naphtali.
4 South of the boundary of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, there is to be one portion for Manasseh.
5 South of the boundary of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, there is to be one portion for Ephraim.
6 South of the boundary of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, there is to be one portion for Reuben.
7 South of the boundary of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, there is to be one portion for Judah.
The Central Holy Area
8 South of the boundary of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the special contribution you are to devote to special use. Its north-to-south width is twenty-five thousand cubits,[r] and its east-to-west length is equal to one of the tribal portions from the eastern side of the land to the western side.[s] The sanctuary will be in the midst of it.[t]
The Place for the Temple
9 The contribution you are to devote to the Lord is to be twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide.[u] 10 The holy contribution for the priests will be this: a rectangular area measuring twenty-five thousand cubits long on the north side, ten thousand cubits wide on the west, ten thousand cubits wide on the east, and twenty-five thousand cubits long on the south. The sanctuary of the Lord will be in the middle. 11 It will be for the priests, whoever has been consecrated from the sons of Zadok, who guarded the ministry for me, and who did not go astray when the other sons of Israel went astray, as also the Levites went astray. 12 It will be a special offering for them from the holy contribution of the land, a most holy district, beside the territory of the Levites.
The Place for the Levites
13 The Levites are to have a rectangular allotment parallel to the territory of the priests. Twenty-five thousand cubits is its length, and its width is ten thousand cubits. Its whole length is twenty-five thousand cubits, and its width is ten thousand cubits. 14 They must not sell any part of it nor exchange any of it. No one can transfer these firstfruits of the land, because they are holy, belonging to the Lord.
The City
15 The area five thousand cubits[v] wide that remains along the south edge of the square of twenty-five thousand cubits is common land for the city, for living space and for open land. The city is to be in its center, between the two halves. 16 These are the city’s dimensions: a square measuring four thousand five hundred cubits on the north side, and four thousand five hundred cubits on the south side, and four thousand five hundred cubits on the east side, and four thousand five hundred cubits on the west side. 17 The open land belonging to the city will measure two hundred fifty cubits on the north side, and two hundred fifty cubits on the south, and two hundred fifty cubits on the east, and two hundred fifty cubits on the west.
18 The remaining area that runs lengthwise along the south side of the holy contribution will be ten thousand cubits east-to-west on the east side of the city, and ten thousand cubits east-to-west on the west side of the city. It shall be next to the holy contribution, and its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. 19 The workers of the city who cultivate it will be from all the tribes of Israel.
20 The entire holy contribution will be twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand cubits, a square. Set apart this holy contribution, which includes the property of the city.
The Territory of the Prince
21 What remains of the holy contribution will belong to the prince. It lies on both sides of the holy contribution and the property of the city, extending from the eastern north-to-south boundary of the special contribution (which is twenty-five thousand cubits long) to the eastern border of the land, and on the west side, it will extend from the western north-to-south boundary of the special contribution (which is twenty-five thousand cubits long) to the western border of the land. The two portions belonging to the prince run parallel to the tribal portions. The holy contribution and the temple sanctuary will be between the two halves of the prince’s area. 22 The area consisting of the property of the Levites and the property of the city is between the two tracts that will belong to the prince. The area between the territory of Judah and the territory of Benjamin will belong to the prince.
The Southern Tribes
23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side of the land to the west side is one portion for Benjamin.
24 South of the boundary of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, is one portion for Simeon.
25 South of the boundary of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, is one portion for Issachar.
26 South of the boundary of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, is one portion for Zebulun.
27 South of the boundary of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, is one portion for Gad.
28 South of the boundary of Gad on the southern side, the border will run from Tamar to the Waters of Meribah Kadesh, to the Stream of Egypt, and to the Great Sea.
29 This is the land that you are to allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the Lord God.
The City Once More
30 These are the outside boundaries of the city.
The north side is four thousand five hundred cubits long. 31 The gates of the city are named after the tribes of Israel. Three gates are located on the north: one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, and one gate of Levi.
32 On the east side, which is four thousand five hundred cubits long, there are three gates: one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, and one gate of Dan.
33 On the south side, which is four thousand five hundred cubits long, there are three gates: one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, and one gate of Zebulun.
34 On the west side, which is four thousand five hundred cubits long, their gates are three: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, and one gate of Naphtali.
35 The perimeter of the city is eighteen thousand cubits,[w] and the name of the city from that day on is “The Lord Is There.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.