Ezekiel45
New King James Version
1“Moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall 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.
2Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space.
3So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
4It shall be 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.
5An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; they shall have twenty chambers as a possession.
6“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“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.
8The land shall be his possession in Israel; and 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.”
9‘Thus says the Lord God: “Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people,” says the Lord God.
10“You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.
11The 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.
12The 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.
14The 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.
15And 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, 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.
17Then it shall be the 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.”
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 cleanse the sanctuary.
19The priest shall 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 of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court.
20And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.
21“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.
22And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.
23On the 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, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.
24And 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 feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 45.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Vision of the Temple. (1-25).
vv1-25
In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Key Words
נָפַל: to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
נַחֲלָה: properly, something inherited, i.e. (abstractly) occupancy, or (concretely) an heirloom; generally an estate, patrimony or portion
רוּם: to be high actively, to rise or raise (in various applications, literally or figuratively)
תְּרוּמָה: a present (as offered up), especially in sacrifice or as tribute
מִן: properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses
קֹדֶשׁ: a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity
אֹרֶךְ: length
רֹחַב: width (literally or figuratively)
סָבִיב: (as noun) a circle, neighbour, or environs; but chiefly (as adverb, with or without preposition) around
Cross References
Ezekiel 45Christ as our true Passover sacrifice, represented spiritually by the feast of unleavened bread.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The fuller geographic layout and distribution of the sacred land allocation among the tribes.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the role and close relationship of the prince to the sanctuary and its offerings.
Supported by JFB
The original Mosaic law standard demanding honest weights and just balances in civil dealings.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explicit commandment concerning the just ephah and just balances, mirroring Ezekiel's call.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Establishes the standard temple tax weight of the shekel defined as twenty gerahs.
Supported by JFB
Confirms God as the inheritance and possession of the ministering priests.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Regulations preventing the prince from abusing power or alienating land from the tribes.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Mosaic sacrificial provision for unintentional sins of ignorance or the simple.
Supported by JFB
The foundational Levitical institution of the Passover feast and seven days of unleavened bread.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month, which the prince must also celebrate.
Supported by JFB
Shows the exact dimensions of the holy oblation portion designated for the priests.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Shows the designated portion of land allocated specifically for the Levites.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Mosaic monetary definition of the shekel valued at twenty gerahs.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Day of Atonement ritual for cleansing the holy sanctuary because of uncleanness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel ritual of putting blood on the horns and corners of the altar to cleanse it.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Wisdom literature condemning false balances and praising just scales as God's delight.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Prophetic condemnation of those who make the ephah small and falsify balances by deceit.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Specific details on how the prince is to offer sacrifices in the feasts.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Exhortation to keep the feast not with old leaven, but with sincerity and truth.
Supported by Matthew Henry