The LORD's Portion of the Country

1When the land is divided to give each tribe a share, one part is to be dedicated to the LORD. It is to be 12.5 kilometres long by ten kilometres45.1 One ancient translation ten kilometres; Hebrew five kilometres. wide. The entire area will be holy. 2In this area there is to be a square plot of land for the Temple, 250 metres along each side, entirely surrounded by an open space 25 metres wide. 3Half of this area, a section 12.5 kilometres by five kilometres, is to be measured off; it will contain the Temple, the holiest place of all. 4It will be a holy part of the country, set aside for the priests who serve the LORD in his Temple. It will contain their houses and the section of land for the Temple. 5The other half of the area is to be set aside as the possession of the Levites, who do the work in the Temple. There will be towns there for them to live in.45.5 One ancient translation towns there for them to live in; Hebrew twenty rooms.

6Next to the holy area, another section, 12.5 kilometres long and 2.5 kilometres wide, is to be set aside for a city where any of the people of Israel may live.

Land for the Prince

7Land is also to be set aside for the ruling prince. From the western boundary of the holy area it will extend west to the Mediterranean Sea; and from the eastern boundary it will extend to the eastern border of the country, so that its length will be the same as the length of one of the areas allotted to the tribes of Israel. 8This area will be the share the ruling prince will have in the land of Israel, so that he will no longer oppress the people, but will let the rest of the country belong to the tribes of Israel.

Rules for the Prince

9The Sovereign LORD said, “You have sinned too long, you rulers of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression. Do what is right and just. You must never again drive my people off their land. I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you this.

1045.10: Lev 19.36“Everyone must use honest weights and measures:

11“The ephah for dry measure is to be equal to the bath for liquid measure. The standard is the homer.45.11 homer: A unit of dry or liquid measure, about 175 litres; so an ephah or a bath would be about 17.5 litres. The resulting measures are as follows:

one homer == ten ephahs == ten baths.

12“Your weights are to be as follows:

twenty gerahs == one shekel45.12 shekel: In Ezekiel's time this unit of weight was about 11.4 grammes.

sixty shekels == one mina.

13-15“This is the basis on which you are to make your offerings:

Wheat: one sixtieth of your harvest

Barley: one sixtieth of your harvest

Olive oil: a hundredth of the yield of your trees.

(Measure it by the bath: ten baths == one homer == one kor.)

Sheep: one sheep out of every 200 from the meadows of Israel.

“You are to bring grain offerings, animals to be burnt whole, and animals for fellowship offerings, so that your sins will be forgiven. I, the Sovereign LORD, command it.

16“All the people of the land must take45.16 Probable text must take; Hebrew unclear. these offerings to the ruling prince of Israel. 17It will be his duty to provide the animals to be burnt whole, the grain offerings, and the wine offerings for the whole nation of Israel at the New Moon Festivals, the Sabbaths, and the other festivals. He is to provide the sin offerings, the grain offerings, the offerings to be burnt whole, and the fellowship offerings, to take away the sins of the people of Israel.”

The Festivals

(Ex 12.1–20; Lev 23.33–43)

18The Sovereign LORD said, “On the first day of the first month you are to sacrifice a bull without any defects and purify the Temple. 19The priest will take some of the blood of this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the altar, and on the posts of the gateways to the inner courtyard. 20On the seventh day of the month you are to do the same thing on behalf of anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way, you will keep the Temple holy.

2145.21: Ex 12.1–20; Num 28.16–25“On the fourteenth day of the first month you will begin the celebration of the Passover Festival. For seven days everyone will eat bread made without yeast. 22On the first day of the festival the ruling prince must offer a bull as a sacrifice for his sins and for those of all the people. 23On each of the seven days of the festival he is to sacrifice to the LORD seven bulls and seven rams without any defects and burn them whole. He is also to sacrifice a male goat each day as a sin offering. 24For each bull and each ram that is sacrificed, there is to be an offering of 17.5 litres of corn and three litres of olive oil.

2545.25: Lev 23.33–36; Num 29.12–38“For the Festival of Shelters, which begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the prince will offer on each of the seven days the same sacrifice for sin, the same offerings to be burnt whole, and the same offerings of corn and olive oil.”