Aa
The Sacred Portion of the Land
1“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance,45:1 Ezk 47:21; 48:29 set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land,45:1 Ezk 48:8–9 8⅓ miles45:1 Lit 25,000 cubits, also in vv. 3,5,6 long and 6⅔ miles45:1 LXX reads 20,000 cubits; MT reads 10,000 cubits wide. This entire region will be holy.
2In this area there will be a square section45:2 Lit square all around for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet,45:2 Lit 500 by 500 cubits45:2 Ezk 42:20 with 87½ feet45:2 Lit 50 cubits of open space all around it.
3From this holy portion,45:3 Lit this measured portion you will measure off an area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles45:3 Lit 10,000 cubits, also in v. 5 wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place,45:3 Ezk 43:12 will stand.45:3 Lit be
4It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who approach to serve the Lord.45:4 Ezk 48:10–11 It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary.
5There will be another area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide for the Levites who minister in the temple;45:5 Ezk 48:13 it will be their possession for towns to live in.45:5 LXX; MT, Syr, Tg, Vg read possession — 20 chambers
6“As the property of the city, set aside an area 1⅔ miles45:6 Lit 5,000 cubits wide and 8⅓ miles long, adjacent to the holy donation of land.45:6 Ezk 48:15–18 It 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.45:7 Ezk 48:21 Its 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 people45:8 Ezk 19:7; 22:27 but 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,45:9 Lit Enough of you45:9 Ezk 44:6 princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right.45:9 Jr 22:3 Put an end to your evictions of my people.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
10“You are to have honest scales, an honest dry measure,45:10 Lit an honest ephah and an honest liquid measure.45:10 Lit and an honest bath45:10 Lv 19:36; Dt 25:15
11The dry measure45:11 Lit The ephah and the liquid measure45:11 Lit the bath will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5½ gallons45:11 Lit one-tenth of a homer and the dry measure holding half a bushel.45:11 Lit one-tenth of a homer Their measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure.45:11 Lit be based on the homer
12The shekel45:12 A shekel is about two-fifths of an ounce of silver will weigh twenty gerahs.45:12 Ex 30:13; Lv 27:25 Your mina will equal sixty shekels.
The People’s Contribution to the Sacrifices
13“This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts45:13 Lit One-sixth of an ephah from six bushels45:13 Lit a homer of wheat and45:13 LXX, Vg; MT reads and you are to give three quarts from six bushels of barley.
14The quota of oil in liquid measures45:14 Lit oil, the bath, the oil will be one percent of every45:14 Lit be a tenth of the bath from the cor. The cor equals ten liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure,45:14 Lit 10 baths, a homer since ten liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure.
15And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people.”45:15 Lv 1:4; 6:30 This 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 is to 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 of the inner court.45:19 Ezk 43:20
20You are to do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance.45:20 Lv 4:2; 5:17 In 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.45:21 Ex 12:18; Lv 23:4–8; Nm 28:16–17; Dt 16:1
22On 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 bushel45:24 Lit an ephah per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon45:24 Lit a hin of oil for every half bushel.
25At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,45:25 = the Festival of Shelters45:25 Lv 23:33–43; Dt 16:13–15 he will provide the same things for seven days — the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.