The Holy District

45 “Moreover, when you ^(A)divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall ^(B)set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around. ² Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, ^(C)five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. ³ So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; ^(D)in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It shall be ^(E)a holy section of the land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ^5 (F)An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the ^[a]temple; they shall have ^(G)twenty^[b] chambers as a possession.

Properties of the City and the Prince

^6 (H)“You shall appoint as the property of the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, adjacent to the district of the holy section; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

^7 (I)“The prince shall have a section on one side and the other of the holy district and the city’s property; and bordering on the holy district and the city’s property, extending westward on the west side and eastward on the east side, the length shall be side by side with one of the tribal portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸ The land shall be his possession in Israel; and ^(J)My princes shall no more oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel, according to their tribes.”

Laws Governing the Prince

⁹ ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(K)“Enough, O princes of Israel! ^(L)Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people,” says the Lord God. ¹⁰ “You shall have ^(M)honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. ¹² The ^(N)shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

¹³ “This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. ¹⁴ The ordinance concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one-tenth of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten baths, for ten baths are a homer. ¹⁵ And one lamb shall be given from a flock of two hundred, from the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, ^(O)to make atonement for them,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “All the people of the land shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ Then it shall be the ^(P)prince’s part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

Keeping the Feasts^(Q)

¹⁸ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and ^(R)cleanse the sanctuary. ^19 (S)The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the ^[c]temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month ^(T)for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.

^21 (U)“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land ^(V)a bull for a sin offering. ²³ On the ^(W)seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, ^(X)and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. ^24 (Y)And he shall prepare a grain offering of one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ephah.

²⁵ “In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the ^(Z)feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”

The Manner of Worship

46 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six ^(AA)working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. ^2 (AB)The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ³ Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. ⁴ The burnt offering that ^(AC)the prince offers to the Lord on the ^(AD)Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; ^5 (AE)and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, ^[d]as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil with every ephah. ⁶ On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish. ⁷ He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, ^[e]as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. ^8 (AF)When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.

⁹ “But when the people of the land ^(AG)come before the Lord on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north ^(AH)gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out. ¹¹ At the festivals and the appointed feast days ^(AI)the grain offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah.

¹² “Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate that faces toward the east ^(AJ)shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.

^13 (AK)“You shall daily make a burnt offering to the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish; you shall prepare it ^[f]every morning. ¹⁴ And you shall prepare a grain offering with it every morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This grain offering is a perpetual ordinance, to be made regularly to the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, as a ^(AL)regular burnt offering every morning.”

The Prince and Inheritance Laws

¹⁶ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “If the prince gives a gift of some of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he gives a gift of some of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until ^(AM)the year of liberty, after which it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall belong to his sons; it shall become theirs. ¹⁸ Moreover ^(AN)the prince shall not take any of the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people may be scattered from his property.” ’ ”

How the Offerings Were Prepared

¹⁹ Now he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy ^(AO)chambers of the priests which face toward the north; and there a place was situated at their extreme western end. ²⁰ And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall ^(AP)boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall ^(AQ)bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court ^(AR)to sanctify the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and in fact, in every corner of the court there was another court. ²² In the four corners of the court were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; all four corners were the same size. ²³ There was a row of building stones all around in them, all around the four of them; and ^[g]cooking hearths were made under the rows of stones all around. ²⁴ And he said to me, “These are the ^[h]kitchens where the ministers of the ^[i]temple shall ^(AS)boil the sacrifices of the people.”