Ezekiel
Chapter 48
1
1 This is the list of the tribes. Dan: at the northern extremity, adjoining Hamath, all along from the approaches to Hethlon through Labo of Hamath to Hazar-enon, on the northerly border with Damascus, with his possession reaching from the eastern to the western boundary.
2
Asher: on the frontier of Dan, from the eastern to the western boundary.
3
Naphtali: on the frontier of Asher, from the eastern to the western boundary.
4
Manasseh: on the frontier of Naphtali, from the eastern to the western boundary.
5
Ephraim: on the frontier of Manasseh, from the eastern to the western boundary.
6
Reuben: on the frontier of Ephraim, from the eastern to the western boundary.
7
Judah: on the frontier of Reuben, from the eastern to the western boundary.
8
On the frontier of Judah, from the eastern to the western boundary there shall be the tract which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits from north to south, and as wide as one of the tribal portions from the eastern to the western boundary. In the center of the tract shall be the sanctuary.
9
The tract that you set aside for the LORD shall be twenty-five thousand cubits across by twenty thousand north and south.
10
In this sacred tract the priests shall have twenty-five thousand cubits on the north, ten thousand on the west, ten thousand on the east, and twenty-five thousand on the south; and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its center.
11
The consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who fulfilled my service and did not stray along with the Israelites as the Levites did,
12
shall have within this tract of land their own most sacred domain, next to the territory of the Levites.
13
The Levites shall have a territory corresponding to that of the priests, twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand. The whole tract shall be twenty-five thousand cubits across and twenty thousand north and south.
14
They may not sell or exchange or alienate this, the best part of the land, for it is sacred to the LORD.
15
The remaining five thousand cubits along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line are profane land, assigned to the City for dwellings and pasture; the City shall be at their center.
16
These are the dimensions of the City: the north side, forty-five hundred cubits; the south side, forty-five hundred cubits; the east side, forty-five hundred cubits; and the west side, forty-five hundred cubits.
17
The pasture lands of the City shall extend north two hundred and fifty cubits, south two hundred and fifty cubits, east two hundred and fifty cubits, and west two hundred and fifty cubits.
18
There shall remain an area along the sacred tract, ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west, whose produce shall provide food for the workers of the City.
19
The workers in the City shall be taken from all the tribes of Israel.
20
The entire tract shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits; as a perfect square you shall set apart the sacred tract together with the City property.
21
The remainder shall belong to the prince: the land on both sides of the sacred tract and the City property, extending along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line eastward to the eastern boundary, and westward along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line to the western boundary, a territory parallel with the tribal portions for the prince. The sacred tract and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the middle.
22
Thus, except for the property of the Levites and the City property, which lie in the midst of the prince's property, the territory between the portions of Judah and of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
23
These are the remaining tribes. Benjamin: from the eastern to the western boundary.
24
Simeon: on the frontier of Benjamin, from the eastern to the western boundary.
25
Issachar: on the frontier of Simeon, from the eastern to the western boundary.
26
Zebulun: on the frontier of Issachar, from the eastern to the western boundary.
27
Gad: on the frontier of Zebulun, from the eastern to the western boundary.
28
Along the frontier of Gad shall be the southern boundary, which shall extend from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and from there to the Wadi of Egypt, and on to the Great Sea.
29
Such is the land which you shall apportion as inheritances among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says the Lord GOD.
30
These are the exits of the City, the gates of which are named after the tribes of Israel. On the north side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits,
31
there shall be three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi.
32
On the east side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan.
33
On the south side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.
34
On the west side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali.
35
The perimeter of the City is eighteen thousand cubits. The name of the City shall henceforth be "The LORD is here."
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Footnotes

1 [1-29] This distribution of the land among the tribes does not correspond to the geographical realities of Palestine. It is a description of the ideal order, like that in Ezekiel 47:1-12.


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