Ezekiel 48

¹ ‘This is the list of the tribes. In the far north by way of Hethlon to the Pass of Hamath, to Hazer-enon, with the frontier of Damascus lying to the north, and marching with Hamath – the land from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Dan, one portion.

² Bordering Dan, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Asher, one portion.

³ Bordering Asher, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Naphtali, one portion.

⁴ Bordering Naphtali, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Manasseh, one portion.

⁵ Bordering Manasseh, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Ephraim, one portion.

⁶ Bordering Ephraim, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Reuben, one portion.

⁷ Bordering Reuben, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Judah, one portion.

⁸ Bordering Judah, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier, is the part you are to set aside, twenty-five thousand cubits wide, and as long as each of the other portions from the eastern frontier to the western frontier. The sanctuary will be in the centre of it.

⁹ ‘The part you must set aside for Yahweh is to be twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide.

¹⁰ This consecrated portion is to belong to the priests, being, on the north side, twenty-five thousand cubits; on the west side ten thousand cubits wide, on the east side ten thousand cubits wide and on the south side twenty-five thousand cubits long, and the sanctuary of Yahweh will be in the centre of it.

¹¹ This is to belong to the consecrated priests, to those of the sons of Zadok who maintained my liturgy and did not go astray with the straying Israelites, as the Levites went astray.

¹² And so their portion is to be taken out of the most holy portion of the land, near the territory of the Levites.

¹³ The territory of the Levites, like the territory of the priests, is to be twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide the whole length being twenty-five thousand and the width ten thousand.

¹⁴ It will be illegal for them to sell or exchange any part of it, and the domain can never be alienated, since it is consecrated to Yahweh.

¹⁵ As regards the remainder, an area of five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand, this is to be for the common use of the city, for houses and pastures. The city is to stand in the centre.

¹⁶ Here are its measurements: on the north side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the south side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the east side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the west side, four thousand five hundred cubits.

¹⁷ And the city pastures are to extend two hundred and fifty cubits to the north, two hundred and fifty to the south, two hundred and fifty to the east, two hundred and fifty to the west.

¹⁸ One strip, contiguous to the consecrated portion, must be left over, consisting of ten thousand cubits to eastward and ten thousand to westward, marching with the consecrated portion; this will bring in a revenue for feeding the municipal workmen.

¹⁹ These municipal workpeople are to be drawn from all the tribes of Israel.

²⁰ The portion is to have a total area of twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand. You are to allocate a quarter of the sacred portion to form the city.

²¹ What is left over shall be for the prince, on either side of the sacred portion and of the common land belonging to the city, marching with the twenty-five thousand cubits to eastward to the eastern frontier, and marching with the twenty-five thousand cubits to westward to the western frontier – running parallel with the other portions and belonging to the prince. In the centre will be the consecrated portion and the sanctuary of the Temple.

²² Thus, apart from the property of the Levites and the property of the city which lie inside the prince’s portion, everything between the borders of Judah and the borders of Benjamin is to belong to the prince.

²³ Here are the rest of the tribes: from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Benjamin, one portion.

²⁴ Bordering Benjamin, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Simeon, one portion.

²⁵ Bordering Simeon, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Issachar, one portion.

²⁶ Bordering Issachar, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Zebulun, one portion.

²⁷ Bordering Zebulun, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Gad, one portion.

²⁸ The southern border of Gad will be formed by the southern frontier running through Tamar to the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, to the Wadi and the Great Sea.

²⁹ This is how you are to divide the land into patrimonies for the tribes of Israel; and these are to be their portions – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.

³⁰ Here are the ways out of the city. On the north side, being four thousand five hundred cubits long,

³¹ three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, the gate of Levi; the gates of the city are to be named after the tribes of Israel.

³² On the east side, being four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, the gate of Dan.

³³ On the south side, being four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, the gate of Zebulun.

³⁴ On the west side, being four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, the gate of Naphtali.

³⁵ Total perimeter: eighteen thousand cubits. The name of the city in future is to be: Yahweh-is-there.’