Ezekiel45
New Living Translation
1“When you divide the land among the tribes of Israel, you must set aside a section for the Lord as his holy portion. This piece of land will be 8 1⁄3 miles long and 6 2⁄3 miles wide. The entire area will be holy.
2A section of this land, measuring 875 feet by 875 feet, will be set aside for the Temple. An additional strip of land 87 1⁄2 feet wide is to be left empty all around it.
3Within the larger sacred area, measure out a portion of land 8 1⁄3 miles long and 3 1⁄3 miles wide. Within it the sanctuary of the Most Holy Place will be located.
4This area will be holy, set aside for the priests who minister to the Lord in the sanctuary. They will use it for their homes, and my Temple will be located within it.
5The strip of sacred land next to it, also 8 1⁄3 miles long and 3 1⁄3 miles wide, will be a living area for the Levites who work at the Temple. It will be their possession and a place for their towns.
6“Adjacent to the larger sacred area will be a section of land 8 1⁄3 miles long and 1 2⁄3 miles wide. This will be set aside for a city where anyone in Israel can live.
7“Two special sections of land will be set apart for the prince. One section will share a border with the east side of the sacred lands and city, and the second section will share a border on the west side. Then the far eastern and western borders of the prince’s lands will line up with the eastern and western boundaries of the tribal areas.
8These sections of land will be the prince’s allotment. Then my princes will no longer oppress and rob my people; they will assign the rest of the land to the people, giving an allotment to each tribe.
9“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land. Stop expelling them from their homes, says the Sovereign Lord.
10Use only honest weights and scales and honest measures, both dry and liquid.
11The homer will be your standard unit for measuring volume. The ephah and the bath will each measure one-tenth of a homer.
12The standard unit for weight will be the silver shekel. One shekel will consist of twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels will be equal to one mina.
13“You must give this tax to the prince: one bushel of wheat or barley for every 60 you harvest,
14one percent of your olive oil,
15and one sheep or goat for every 200 in your flocks in Israel. These will be the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings that will make atonement for the people who bring them, says the Sovereign Lord.
16All the people of Israel must join in bringing these offerings to the prince.
17The prince will be required to provide offerings that are given at the religious festivals, the new moon celebrations, the Sabbath days, and all other similar occasions. He will provide the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, liquid offerings, and peace offerings to purify the people of Israel, making them right with the Lord.
18“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In early spring, on the first day of each new year, sacrifice a young bull with no defects to purify the Temple.
19The priest will take blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar, and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard.
20Do this also on the seventh day of the new year for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance. In this way, you will purify the Temple.
21“On the fourteenth day of the first month, you must celebrate the Passover. This festival will last for seven days. The bread you eat during that time must be made without yeast.
22On the day of Passover the prince will provide a young bull as a sin offering for himself and the people of Israel.
23On each of the seven days of the feast he will prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, consisting of seven young bulls and seven rams without defects. A male goat will also be given each day for a sin offering.
24The prince will provide a basket of flour as a grain offering and a gallon of olive oil with each young bull and ram.
25“During the seven days of the Festival of Shelters, which occurs every year in early autumn, the prince will provide these same sacrifices for the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the grain offering, along with the required olive 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