Ezekiel 45–48

Instructions about Divisions of the Renewed Land

45And 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. ²And there shall be from this area five hundred cubits^c by five hundred cubits, squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubits^de of open space shall be for it all around it. ³And 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 4}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. ⁵And 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 6}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 cubitsⁿ in length, and it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

⁷And 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 8}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.”

⁹Thus 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. ¹⁰There shall be for you an honest set of scales^a and an honest ephah^b and an honest bath.^{c 11}The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement;^d the tenth part of the homer is the bath, and the tenth of the homer is the ephah; so the homer shall be its^e unit of measurement. ¹²And the shekel shall weigh twenty gerahs, twenty shekels^f and five and twenty shekels^g and ten and five shekels,^h that shall make the mina for you.ⁱ

¹³This is the contribution offering which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a^j homer of wheat, and a^k sixth of the ephah from a^l homer of barley. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And one^m 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,” declaresⁿ the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶“All of the people of the land shall join in^o to this contribution with^p 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^q 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. ¹⁸Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the first month on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull, a calf^r without defect, and you shall purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹And the priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall put it on the doorframe of the temple^s and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorframe of the gate of the inner courtyard. ²⁰And 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.^t

²¹In the first month, on the fourteenth^u day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast lasting for seven days,^v when you shall eat unleavened breads. ²²And the prince shall provide on that day for himself^w and for all of the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. ²³And 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. ²⁴And as a grain offering, an ephah for^x the bull and an ephah for^y the ram he must provide, and a hin of olive oil for each^z ephah. ²⁵In the seventh month, on the fifteenth^a 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.’ ”

46Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east must be shut on^a the six of the days for work, but on the day of the Sabbath it must be opened and on the day of the new moon it must be opened. ²And the prince shall come by way of the portico of the gate from the outside, and he shall stand at the doorframe of the gate and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until the evening. ³And the people of the land will bow down at the doorway of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons before^b Yahweh.

⁴And the burnt offering which the prince will offer to Yahweh on the Sabbath day must be six male lambs without defect and a ram without defect. ⁵And the grain offering he will give shall be an ephah for each ram,^c and for the male lambs the grain offering shall be as much as he wants to give^d and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.^{e 6}And on the day of the new moon he will offer a bull, a calf^f without defect and six male lambs and a ram; they must be without defect. ⁷And an ephah for each bull and an ephah for the ram he must provide as a grain offering, and also for the male lambs as much as he can afford^g and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.

⁸And when the prince comes, on^h the way of the portico of the gate he shall come and by thisⁱ way he shall go out. ⁹And when the people of the land come before^j Yahweh at the festivals, the one coming by way of the gate of the north to bow down^k must go out by the way of the gate of the south, and the one coming by way of the gate of the south must go out by the way of the gate of the north, so he must not return by the way of the gate by which he came,^l but before it he^m shall go out opposite it. ¹⁰And the prince will be in the midst of them; he will come in when they come in, and when they go out he will go out.

¹¹And at the festivals and at the appointed times, the grain offering will be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with the ram and with the male lambs, as much as he wants to give,ⁿ and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.^{o 12}And when the prince makes a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or a fellowship offering as a freewill offering to Yahweh, the gate facing east will be open for him. And he must offer his burnt offering and his fellowship offering just as^p he does on the day of the Sabbath, and then he must go out and the gate will shut after he goes out.^{q 13}And a male lamb, a yearling^r without defect, he must provide as a burnt offering daily^s for Yahweh; every morning^t he must provide it. ¹⁴And a grain offering he must provide in addition to it every morning,^u a^v sixth of an^w ephah and a third of a hin of olive oil to moisten the finely milled flour as a grain offering to Yahweh as a perpetual statute.^{x 15}So they must provide the male lamb and the grain offering and the olive oil every morning^y as a regular burnt offering.”^z

¹⁶Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “If the prince gives a gift to any one from among his sons, it is his inheritance and it will belong^a to his sons; it is their possession as an inheritance. ¹⁷And if he give a gift from his inheritance to one from among his servants, then it will belong^b to him until the year of release,^c and then it will return to the prince. His inheritance with respect to his sons will be only for them. ¹⁸But the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people to rob^d them, separating them from their property; from his own property he shall bestow an inheritance on his sons, so that my people will not be driven away, any one, from his property.”

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entrance which was on the side of the gate to the holy chambers^e to the priests; the chambers were facing northwards and, look, there was a place at the extreme end westwards. ²⁰And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering in order not to bring them out to the outer courtyard to make the people holy. ²¹And he brought me to the outer courtyard and led me past the four corners of the courtyard; and look, there was a courtyard in each corner of the courtyard.^{f 22}In the four corners of the courtyard were small^g courtyards forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in width, each with the same measurements^h for the four of them with corners.^{i 23}And a row was all around inside^j them, and cooking-places were made under the rows of stones^k all around. ²⁴And he said to me, “These are the houses for^l cooking, where the ones serving the temple shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

River of the Temple, Division of the Land and Its Boundaries

47And he brought me back to the doorway of the temple and, look! There was water coming out from under the threshold of the temple eastward, because the face of the temple was eastwards; and the water was coming down from under the…