Ezekiel 45–48

The Sacred Portion of the Land

45“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, ^fyou must set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land, ^g8⅓ miles ^hlong and 6⅔ miles ⁱwide. This entire tract of land will be holy. ²In this area there will be a square section ^jfor the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet, ^klwith 87½ feet ^mof open space all around it. ³From this holy portion, ⁿyou will measure off an area 8⅓ miles ^olong and 3⅓ miles ^pwide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, ^qwill stand. ^r4It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve the Lord. ^sIt will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary. ⁵There will be another area 8⅓ miles ^tlong and 3⅓ miles ^uwide for the Levites who minister in the temple; ^vit will be their possession for towns to live in. ^w

⁶“As the property of the city, you must set aside an area 1⅔ of a mile ^xwide and 8⅓ miles ^ylong, adjacent to the holy donation of land. ^zIt will be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation of land and the city’s property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city’s property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. ^aIts length will correspond to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary. ⁸This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress My people ^bbut give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

⁹“This is what the Lord God says: You have gone too far, ^cdprinces of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. ^ePut an end to your evictions of My people.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁰“You must have honest scales, an honest dry measure, ^fand an honest liquid measure. ^gh11The dry measure ⁱand the liquid measure ^jwill be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5½ gallons ^kand the dry measure holding half a bushel. ^lTheir measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure. ^m12The shekel will weigh 20 gerahs. ⁿYour mina will equal 60 shekels.

The People’s Contribution to the Sacrifices

¹³“This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts ^ofrom five bushels ^pof wheat and ^qthree quarts from five bushels of barley. ¹⁴The quota of oil in liquid measures ^rwill be one percent of every ^scor. The cor equals 10 liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure, ^tsince 10 liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure. ¹⁵And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people.” ^uThis is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁶“All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths—for all the appointed times of the house of Israel—will be the prince’s responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

¹⁸“This is what the Lord God says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply it to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar’s ledge, and the doorposts of the gate to the inner court. ^v20You must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. ^wIn this way you will make atonement for the temple.

²¹“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days during which unleavened bread will be eaten. ^x22On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land. ²³During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering. ²⁴He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel ^yper bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon ^zof oil for every half bushel. ²⁵At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, ^abhe will provide the same things for seven days—the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

Sacrifices at Appointed Times

46“This is what the Lord God says: The gate of the inner court that faces east must be closed during the six days of work, but it will be opened on the Sabbath day ^cand opened on the day of the New Moon. ²The prince should enter from the outside by way of the gate’s portico and stand at the doorpost of the gate while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He will bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be closed until evening. ³The people of the land will also bow in worship before the Lord at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and New Moons.

⁴“The burnt offering that the prince presents to the Lord ^don the Sabbath day is to be six unblemished lambs ^eand an unblemished ram. ⁵The grain offering will be half a bushel ^fwith the ram, ^gand the grain offering with the lambs will be whatever he wants to give, as well as a gallon ^hof oil for every half bushel. ⁶On the day of the New Moon, the burnt offering is to be a young, unblemished bull, as well as six lambs and a ram without blemish. ⁷He will provide a grain offering of half a bushel ⁱwith the bull, half a bushel with the ram, and whatever he can afford with the lambs, together with a gallon ^jof oil for every half bushel. ⁸When the prince enters, ^khe must go in by way of the gate’s portico and go out the same way.

⁹“When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed times, ^lmwhoever enters by way of the north gate to worship must go out by way of the south gate, and whoever enters by way of the south gate must go out by way of the north gate. No one must return through the gate by which he entered, but must go out by the opposite gate. ¹⁰When the people enter, the prince will enter with them, and when they leave, he will leave. ¹¹At the festivals and appointed times, the grain offering will be half a bushel ⁿwith the bull, half a bushel with the ram, and whatever he wants to give with the lambs, along with a gallon ^oof oil for every half bushel.

¹²“When the prince makes a freewill offering, whether a burnt offering or a fellowship offering as a freewill offering to the Lord, ^pthe gate that faces east must be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or fellowship offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he will go out, and the gate must be closed after he leaves.

¹³“You must offer an unblemished year-old male lamb as a daily burnt offering to the Lord; you will offer it every morning. ^q14You must also prepare a grain offering every morning along with it: three quarts, ^rwith one-third of a gallon ^sof oil to moisten the fine flour—a grain offering to the Lord. This is a permanent statute to be observed regularly. ¹⁵They will offer the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.

Transfer of Royal Lands

¹⁶“This is what the Lord God says: If the prince gives a gift to each of his sons as their inheritance, it will belong to his sons. It will become their property by inheritance. ¹⁷But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom, ^twhen it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it is theirs. ¹⁸The prince must not take any of the people’s inheritance, evicting them from their property. ^uHe is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his own property.”

The Temple Kitchens

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entrance ^vthat was at the side of the gate, into the priests’ holy chambers, which faced north. I saw a place there at the far western end. ²⁰He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the restitution offering and the sin offering, ^wand where they will bake the grain offering, ^xso that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.” ²¹Next he brought me into the outer court and led me past its four corners. There was a separate court in each of its corners. ²²In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed ^ycourts, 70 feet ^zlong by 52½ feet ^awide. All four corner areas had the same dimensions. ²³There was a stone wall ^baround the inside of them, around the four of them, with ovens built at the base of the walls on all sides. ²⁴He said to me: “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the people’s sacrifices.”

The Life-Giving River

47Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. ^c2Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side. ³As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, ^dhe measured off a third of a mile ^eand led me through the water. It came up to my ankles. ⁴Then he measured off a third of a mile ^fand led me through the water. It came up to my knees. He measured off another third of a mile ^gand led me through the water. It came up to my waist. ⁵Again he measured off a third of a mile ^h, and it was a river…