Ezekiel 45

When you divide the land by lot to give each tribe its share, you must set apart a portion for the LORD, a holy part of the land. It will be twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide. The whole area inside its borders will be holy.

1Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

NoteDividing land "by lot" meant casting or drawing marked objects to settle a decision without human favoritism; it was how the tribal territories were assigned in Joshua. "Oblation" translates a Hebrew word meaning something lifted off and set aside as a contribution. The Hebrew gives no unit for the 25,000 and 10,000: the King James translators supplied "reeds" (a measuring rod of about ten feet), while most modern translations supply "cubits" from verse 2, which would make the strip roughly eight miles long.

2Inside this area there will be a square for the sanctuary, five hundred long and five hundred wide, with fifty cubits of open land all around it.

2Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.

NoteA cubit was about eighteen inches, the length of a forearm, so this square is roughly 850 feet a side. The "sanctuary" is the temple complex itself. The King James "suburbs" does not mean housing; it renders a word for the open, unbuilt ground kept clear around a sacred or walled place.

3From this holy portion you will measure off a strip twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide. The sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand in it.

3And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place.

Note"The most holy place" was the innermost room of the temple, entered by no one but the high priest and only on one day of the year.

4This holy part of the land is for the priests, the workers of the sanctuary, who come near to serve the LORD. It will be the place for their houses and holy ground for the sanctuary.

4The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the LORD: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary.

NotePriests were the hereditary officials who alone could approach the altar and handle the offerings; in Ezekiel they are the line of Zadok. "Minister" here simply means to serve or perform duties, not to preach.

5Another strip twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple. It will be their own property, with twenty chambers.

5And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty chambers.

NoteThe Levites were the tribe assigned to the temple's supporting work (gatekeeping, singing, slaughtering, maintenance) under the priests but not permitted to serve at the altar. Unlike the other tribes they received no territory of their own, which is why a strip is set aside for them here. Where the King James reads "twenty chambers," the Hebrew is uncertain and the ancient Greek version reads "cities to live in," which is the sense most modern translations follow.

6For the property of the city, set apart a strip five thousand wide and twenty-five thousand long, running alongside the holy portion. It will belong to the whole nation of Israel.

6And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

NoteEzekiel's three strips fit together: the priests' 10,000, the Levites' 10,000 and the city's 5,000 make a block 25,000 wide by 25,000 long, with the prince's land running off each side of it to the sea and to the eastern border.

7The prince will have the land on both sides of this whole block, the holy portion together with the property of the city. It borders them on the west and runs westward, and on the east and runs eastward. Its length will match one of the tribal portions, reaching from the western border to the eastern border.

7And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.

Note"Prince" translates the Hebrew *nasi*, meaning a chief or leader. Ezekiel pointedly avoids the word "king" for this figure throughout his vision of the restored land.

8This land will be his own property in Israel. Then my princes will no longer crush my people. They will leave the rest of the land to the house of Israel, tribe by tribe.

8In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

Note"House of Israel" means the nation as a whole, the descendants of Israel, not a building.

9This is what the Lord GOD says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel. Stop your violence and your robbing. Do what is fair and right. Stop taking my people's land from them, says the Lord GOD.

9Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Let it suffice you" is 1611 English for "that is enough from you." "Spoil" means plunder, goods seized by force, and "exactions" refers to the seizing of families' inherited land, which Israelite law treated as inalienable.

10You must use honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.

10Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

NoteAn ephah was a dry measure of roughly five or six gallons; a bath was the equivalent liquid measure. "Balances" are the two-pan scales used in every market transaction, easily rigged by a dishonest trader with false weights.

11The ephah and the bath must hold the same amount. The bath is a tenth of a homer, and the ephah is a tenth of a homer. The homer is the standard for both.

11The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

NoteA homer was the largest common measure, about ten ephahs, some six bushels, or what a donkey could carry; the word is related to the Hebrew for donkey.

12The shekel will weigh twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will make one maneh.

12And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.

NoteA shekel was a weight of silver, roughly two fifths of an ounce; a gerah was a twentieth of it. A maneh (mina) was the next weight up. The three figures given here add to sixty shekels, whereas elsewhere in the ancient Near East a mina was fifty; the ancient Greek version of this verse reads fifty. The discrepancy has never been resolved.

13This is the contribution you must give: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.

13This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley:

Note"Oblation" again means a contribution set apart. A sixth of an ephah out of a homer works out to one part in sixty, a little under two per cent of the harvest.

14This is the set amount of olive oil, measured by the bath: a tenth of a bath from each cor. A cor is ten baths, which is a homer, since ten baths make a homer.

14Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer:

NoteA cor was another name for the homer, used for liquids as well as grain; the verse spells out the equivalence because the two names were both in use.

15Also give one lamb out of every flock of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the peace offerings, to make things right between the people and God, says the Lord GOD.

15And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Meat offering" in 1611 English meant a food offering of grain and oil, not flesh; the word "meat" then covered food in general. A burnt offering was one consumed entirely by fire; a peace offering was shared, part burned and the rest eaten as a meal by the worshipers. "Make reconciliation" translates the word usually rendered atonement, meaning to cover or wipe away impurity.

16All the people of the land must take part in giving this contribution to the prince in Israel.

16All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.

17It will be the prince's duty to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings at the festivals, at the new moon days, and on the Sabbath days. This covers all the appointed feasts of Israel. He will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make things right between Israel and God.

17And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

NoteA drink offering was wine poured out beside the sacrifice. A sin offering was made to cleanse ritual impurity, whether or not any deliberate wrongdoing was involved. The "new moons" were the first days of each month in a lunar calendar, marked as festival days, and the Sabbath was the seventh day of each week, kept free of work.

18This is what the Lord GOD says: On the first day of the first month, take a young bull with no flaw in it and purify the sanctuary.

18Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:

NoteThe first month, Abib or Nisan, fell in what we would call March–April. "Bullock" is 1611 English for a young bull. "Without blemish" means physically unmarked and undamaged, animals with defects were not accepted.

19The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge around the altar, and on the posts of the gate to the inner court.

19And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.

NoteThe King James "settle" of the altar means a ledge or step running round it partway up, described in Ezekiel 43. The inner court was the enclosed area immediately around the temple building, which laypeople could not enter.

20Do the same on the seventh day of the month, for anyone who sins by mistake or without knowing. In this way you will purify the temple.

20And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house.

Note"Him that is simple" does not mean stupid; it renders a word for someone acting in ignorance. The contrast throughout is between wrongs done unknowingly, which the ritual covers, and deliberate defiance, which it does not. Where the Hebrew has "the seventh day of the month," the ancient Greek version reads "the first day of the seventh month."

21On the fourteenth day of the first month you will keep the Passover, a feast lasting seven days. During it, bread made without yeast is to be eaten.

21In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

NotePassover was the spring festival marking Israel's escape from Egypt. For the seven days that followed, no yeast or leavened dough was allowed in the house, a reminder of bread made in too much haste to rise.

22On that day the prince will provide a young bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land.

22And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.

23On each of the seven days of the feast he will provide a burnt offering to the LORD. That is seven bulls and seven rams with no flaw in them, every day for the seven days, and a young male goat each day as a sin offering.

23And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.

Note"A kid of the goats" is 1611 English for a young male goat.

24He will also provide a grain offering of an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, with a hin of olive oil for each ephah of grain.

24And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.

NoteA hin was a liquid measure of about a gallon, one sixth of a bath.

25In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast that lasts seven days, he will do the same. He will provide the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

25In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

NoteThe fifteenth day of the seventh month is the autumn Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, when people lived a week in temporary shelters. Ezekiel does not name it here, only the date.