The Land Is Divided
45 “‘When you divide the land for the Israelite tribes by throwing lots, you must give a part of the land to belong to the Lord. It will be about seven miles long and about six miles wide; all of this land will be holy. 2 From this land, an area eight hundred seventy-five feet square will be for the Temple. There will be an open space around the Temple that is eighty-seven and one-half feet wide. 3 In the holy area you will measure a part about seven miles long and three miles wide, and in it will be the Most Holy Place. 4 This holy part of the land will be for the priests who serve in the Temple, who come near to the Lord to serve him. It will be a place for the priests’ houses and for the Temple. 5 Another area about seven miles long and more than three miles wide will be for the Levites, who serve in the Temple area. It will belong to them so they will have cities in which to live.
6 “‘You must give the city an area that is about one and one-half miles wide and about seven miles long, along the side of the holy area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.
7 “‘The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy area and the city. On the west of the holy area, his land will reach to the Mediterranean Sea. On the east of the holy area, his land will reach to the eastern border. It will be as long as the land given to each tribe. 8 Only this land will be the ruler’s property in Israel. So my rulers will not be cruel to my people anymore, but they will let each tribe in the nation of Israel have its share of the land.
9 “‘This is what the Lord God says: You have gone far enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop being cruel and hurting people, and do what is right and fair. Stop forcing my people out of their homes, says the Lord God. 10 You must have honest scales, an honest dry measurement and an honest liquid measurement. 11 The dry measure and the liquid measure will be the same: The liquid measure will always be a tenth of a homer, and the ephah will always be a tenth of a homer. The measurement they follow will be the homer. 12 The shekel will be worth twenty gerahs, and a mina will be worth sixty shekels.
Offerings and Holy Days
13 “‘This is the gift you should offer: a sixth of an ephah from every homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from every homer of barley. 14 The amount of oil you are to offer is a tenth of a bath from each cor. (Ten baths make a homer and also make a cor.) 15 You should give one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel. All these are to be offered for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to remove sins so you will belong to God, says the Lord God. 16 All people in the land will give this special offering to the ruler of Israel. 17 It will be the ruler’s responsibility to supply the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings. These offerings will be given at the feasts, at the New Moons, on the Sabbaths, and at all the other feasts of Israel. The ruler will supply the sin offerings, grain offerings, and fellowship offerings to pay for the sins of Israel.
18 “‘This is what the Lord God says: On the first day of the first month take a young bull that has nothing wrong with it. Use it to make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service. 19 The priest will take some of the blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate to the inner courtyard. 20 You will do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned by accident or without knowing it. This is how you make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service.
Passover Feast Offerings
21 “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month you will celebrate the Feast of Passover. It will be a feast of seven days when you eat bread made without yeast. 22 On that day the ruler must offer a bull for himself and for all the people of the land as a sin offering. 23 During the seven days of the feast he must offer seven bulls and seven male sheep that have nothing wrong with them. They will be burnt offerings to the Lord, which the ruler will offer every day of the seven days of the feast. He must also offer a male goat every day as a sin offering. 24 The ruler must give as a grain offering one-half bushel for each bull and one-half bushel for each sheep. He must give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel.
25 “‘Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you celebrate the Feast of Shelters, the ruler will supply the same things for seven days: the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the olive oil.
Footnotes
- 45:11
- 45:12
