< Ezekiel 45 >

1 “‘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).
And when you measure the land for inheritance, you shall set apart first fruits to the Lord, a holy space of the land, in length twenty and five thousand [reeds], and in breadth twenty thousand; it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.
2 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.
And there shall be a sanctuary out of this, five hundred [reeds in length] by five hundred in breadth, a square round about; and [there shall be] a vacant space [beyond] this of fifty cubits round about.
3 Inside that sacred district, measure a section (8.3 miles/13.3 km.) long and (3.5 miles/5.3 km.) wide.
And out of this measurement shall you measure the length five and twenty thousand, and the breadth twenty thousand: and in it shall be the holy of holies.
4 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.
Of the land shall be [a portion] for the priests that minister in the holy place, and it shall be for them that draw near to minister to the Lord: and it shall be to them a place for houses set apart for their sacred office;
5 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.
the length [shall be] twenty-five thousand, and the breadth twenty thousand: and the Levites that attend the house, they shall have cities to dwell in for a possession.
6 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.
And you shall appoint [for] the possession of the city five thousand in breadth, and in length twenty-five thousand: after the manner of the first fruits of the holy portion, they shall be for all the house of Israel.
7 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.
And the prince [shall have a portion] out of this, and out of this [there shall be a portion] for the first fruits of the sanctuary, [and] for the possession of the city, in front of the first fruits of the sanctuary, and in front of the possession of the city westward, and from the western parts eastward: and the length [shall be] equal to one of the parts of the western borders, and the length [shall be] to the eastern borders of the land.
8 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.
And he shall have it for a possession in Israel: and the princes of Israel shall no more oppress my people; but the house of Israel shall inherit the land according to their tribes.
9 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!
Thus says the Lord God; Let it suffice you, you princes of Israel: remove injustice and misery, execute judgment and justice; take away oppression from my people, says the Lord God.
10 And you must use accurate scales, and accurate containers for measuring things.
You shall have a just balance, and a just measure, and a just choenix for measure.
11 The baskets for measuring dry things and containers for measuring liquids must be the same size; each must hold 175 quarts/liters.
And in like manner there shall be one choenix as a measure of capacity; the tenth of the homer [shall be] the choenix, and the tenth of the homer shall be in fair proportion to the homer.
12 When you weigh things, you must use weights that everyone accepts as being correct [MTY].’”
And the weights [shall be] twenty oboli, your pound shall be five shekels, fifteen shekels and fifty shekels.
13 “‘You must present to the king one bushel of wheat or barley for every 60 that you harvest.
And these are the first fruits which you shall offer; a sixth part of a homer of wheat, and the sixth part of it [shall consist] of an ephah of a core of barley.
14 And you must give him one quart/liter of olive oil for every 100 quarts/liters that you make.
And [you shall give as] the appointed measure of oil one bath of oil out of ten baths; for ten baths are a homer.
15 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.
And one sheep from the flock out of ten, as an oblation from all the tribes of Israel, for sacrifices, and for whole burnt offerings, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for you, says the Lord God.
16 All the Israeli people must join in bringing those offerings to the king of Israel.
And all the people shall give these first fruits to the prince of Israel.
17 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.
And through the prince shall be [offered] the whole burnt offerings and the meat-offerings, and the drink-offerings in the feasts, and at the new moons, and on the sabbaths; and in all the feasts of the house of Israel: he shall offer the sin-offerings, and the meat-offering, and the whole burnt offerings, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
18 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.
Thus says the Lord God; In the first month, on the first [day] of the month, you shall take a calf without blemish out of the herd, to make atonement for the holy place.
19 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.
And the priest shall take of the blood of the atonement, and put it on the thresholds of the house, and upon the four corners of the temple, and upon the altar, and upon the thresholds of the gate of the inner court.
20 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.
And thus shall you do in the seventh month; on the first [day] of the month you shall take a rate from each one; and you shall make atonement for the house.
21 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.
And in the first [month], on the fourteenth [day] of the month, you shall have the feast of the passover; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread.
22 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.
And the prince shall offer in that day a calf for a sin-offering for himself, and the house, and for all the people of the land.
23 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.
And for the seven days of the feast he shall offer as whole burnt offerings to the Lord seven calves and seven rams without blemish daily for the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin-offering, and a meat-offering.
24 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.
And you shall prepare a cake for the calf, and cakes for the ram, and a hin of oil for the cake.
25 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].’”
And in the seventh month, on the fifteenth [day] of the month, you shall sacrifice in the feast in the same way seven days, as [they sacrificed] the sin-offerings, and the whole burnt offerings, and the free will offering, and the oil.

< Ezekiel 45 >