Ezekiel 45

1 "'Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of eight and one eighth miles, and the breadth shall be six and a half miles. It shall be holy in all its border all around.

“‘When the land of Israel is divided [among the twelve tribes], you must present to me, Yahweh, one part of the land to be a sacred district. It will be (8.3 miles/13.3 km.) long and (6.7 miles/10.6 km.) wide. That entire area will be (holy/set apart for me).

2 Of this there shall be for the holy place eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches in length by eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches in breadth, square all around; and eighty-six feet two inches for its suburbs all around.

Part of that area, (875 feet/265 meters) on each side, will be for the temple area. An additional strip of ground, (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide, will be left empty all around the temple area.

3 Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

Inside that sacred district, measure a section (8.3 miles/13.3 km.) long and (3.5 miles/5.3 km.) wide.

4 It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the LORD; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

That section will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests who work in the temple and who come near to me to serve me. It will be a place for their houses as well as being a holy place for the temple.

5 Eight and one eighth miles in length, and three and one quarter miles in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house. It will be their possession for cities to live in.

An area (8.3 miles/13.3 km.) long and (3.5 miles/5.3 km.) wide will be for the descendants of Levi who work in the temple. That area will belong to them, and they will be permitted to build cities there to live in.

6 "'You shall appoint the possession of the city one and two-thirds miles broad, and eight and one eighth miles, long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

Alongside that sacred area will be a section of land that is (8.3 miles/13.3 km.) long and (1.7 miles/2.65 km.) wide. It will be for a city where anyone in Israel [MTY] will be permitted to live.

7 "'Whatever is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy offering and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.

The king will have two sections of land; one will be on the western side of the sacred district and other will be on the eastern side of the sacred district. The one on the western side will extend west to the Mediterranean Sea. The one on the eastern side will extend east to the eastern end of the country. The eastern and western borders of the king’s land will be next to the areas allotted to the tribes.

8 In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.'

That land will be the land in Israel that belongs to the king. So, [because the kings will have their own land], they will no longer need to oppress my people and steal [land] from them. They will assign the remaining parts of the land to the people, giving a part to each tribe.

9 "Thus says the LORD: 'Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people, says the LORD.

This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: You kings of Israel must stop acting violently and oppressing the people! You must do what is fair and right [DOU]. Stop taking land from the people!

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

And you must use accurate scales, and accurate containers for measuring things.

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

The baskets for measuring dry things and containers for measuring liquids must be the same size; each must hold 175 quarts/liters.

12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

When you weigh things, you must use weights that everyone accepts as being correct [MTY].’”

13 "'This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

“‘You must present to the king one bushel of wheat or barley for every 60 that you harvest.

14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer; )

And you must give him one quart/liter of olive oil for every 100 quarts/liters that you make.

15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel—for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the LORD.

Also, I, Yahweh, declare that you must take one sheep from each 200 sheep in your flocks in the pastures of Israel. Those things that you take to the king will be used with the offerings of things made from grain and for the offerings that will be completely burned and the offerings to maintain fellowship with me, offerings in order for me to forgive you for the sins that you have committed.

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

All the Israeli people must join in bringing those offerings to the king of Israel.

17 It shall be the prince's part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

The king must provide the animals to be completely burned on the altar, grain for the grain offerings, and wine for the wine offerings for the sacred festivals that I have appointed for the people of Israel—including the festivals to celebrate each new moon and the Sabbaths. He must provide [the animals for] the offerings for the people to become acceptable to me, grain for the grain offerings, animals to be completely burned [on the altar], and offerings to maintain fellowship with me, Yahweh, in order that I will forgive the Israeli people for their sins.

18 "'Thus says the LORD: In the first month, in the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary.

This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: On the first day of the first month [of each year] you must take one young bull that has no defects and [sacrifice it to] cause the temple to be acceptable to me.

19 The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

The [Supreme] Priest must take some of the blood of the offering to cause people to become acceptable to me, and smear it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar, and on the entry posts of the inner courtyard.

20 So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you shall make atonement for the house.

He must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for any people who sin without intending to sin or without realizing that what they did is sinful. By doing that you will purify the temple.

21 "'In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

In the first month of each year, on the 14th day of the month, you must start to celebrate the Passover Festival. The festival will last for seven days. During that time you must not eat bread made with yeast.

22 On that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

On the first day, the king must provide a bull to be an offering for himself and for the all the other people of the country.

23 The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

And every day during those seven days he must provide seven young bulls and seven rams that have no defects, to be an offering for the people’s sins.

24 He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

He must also provide a half bushel of grain to be an offering, and also four quarts of olive oil, for each bill and ram.

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

During the seven days of the festival [of Living in Temporary Shelters], which starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of each year, the king must provide the same things for offerings for the people’s sins, for offerings to be completely burned, for grain offerings, and the same amount of olive oil that he provided each day [during the Passover Festival].’”