Ezekiel 45:1
New International Version
“’When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy.

New Living Translation
“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.

English Standard Version
“When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent.

Berean Standard Bible
“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you are to set aside a portion for the LORD, a holy portion of the land 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.

King James Bible
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

New King James Version
“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.

New American Standard Bible
“Now when you divide the land by lot for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be a length of twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width shall be twenty thousand. It shall be holy within its entire surrounding boundary.

NASB 1995
“And when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about.

NASB 1977
“And when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 10,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about.

Legacy Standard Bible
“And when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer a contribution to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about.

Amplified Bible
“Moreover, when you divide the land by lot for inheritance, you shall [set apart and] offer an allotment (contribution) to the LORD, a holy portion of the land [to be used for sacred purposes]. The length shall be 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 20,000 cubits. It shall be holy (set apart for sacred use) within its every area.

Christian Standard Bible
“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, set aside a donation to the LORD, a holy portion of the land, 8 1 /3 miles long and 6 2 /3 miles wide. This entire region will be holy.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you must set aside a donation to the LORD, a holy portion of the land, 8 1/3 miles long and 6 2/3 miles wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.

American Standard Version
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto Jehovah, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And whenever you divide the land, separate a division to LORD JEHOVAH, and hallow some land, and its length will be twenty and five thousand, and its width ten thousand, and all its borders shall be holy around it

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And when ye measure thee land for inheritance, ye shall set apart first-fruits to the Lord, a holy space of the land, in length twenty and five thousand reeds, and in breadth twenty thousand; it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

Contemporary English Version
When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be 12.5 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when you shall begin to divide the land by lot, separate ye firstfruits to the Lord, a portion of the land to be holy, in length twenty-five thousand and in breadth ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

English Revised Version
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
" 'Divide the land by drawing lots for the property you will inherit. Set aside an area 43,750 feet long and 35,000 feet wide for the LORD. The entire area will be holy.

Good News Translation
When the land is divided to give each tribe a share, one part is to be dedicated to the LORD. It is to be 10 miles long by 8 miles wide. The entire area will be holy.

International Standard Version
"When you divide the land for an inheritance, you are to present a Terumah to the LORD, a consecrated portion of the land 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide. Everything within this area is to be treated as holy.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall set apart an offering unto the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand; it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about.

Literal Standard Version
“And in your causing the land to fall into inheritance, you lift up a raised-offering to YHWH, a holy [portion] of the land: the length—twenty-five thousand [is] the length, and the breadth—ten thousand; it [is] holy in all its surrounding border.

Majority Standard Bible
“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you are to set aside a portion for the LORD, a holy portion of the land 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.

New American Bible
When you apportion the land heritage by heritage, you shall set apart a holy portion for the LORD, holier than the rest of the land—twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide; the entire area shall be holy.

NET Bible
"'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment to the LORD, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. This entire area will be holy.

New Revised Standard Version
When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent.

New Heart English Bible
"'Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of eight and one eighth miles, and the breadth shall be six and a half miles. It shall be holy in all its border all around.

Webster's Bible Translation
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation to the LORD, a holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all its borders on every side.

World English Bible
“‘“Moreover, when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land. The length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the width shall be ten thousand. It shall be holy in all its border all around.

Young's Literal Translation
And in your causing the land to fall in inheritance, ye lift up a heave-offering to Jehovah, a holy portion of the land: the length -- five and twenty thousand is the length, and the breadth ten thousand; it is holy in all its border round about.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Consecration of the Land
1“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you are to set aside a portion for the LORD, a holy portion of the land 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide. This entire tract of land will be holy. 2Within this area there is to be a section for the sanctuary 500 cubits square, with 50 cubits around it for open land.…

Cross References
Numbers 34:13
So Moses commanded the Israelites, "Apportion this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has commanded that it be given to the nine and a half tribes.

Joshua 13:7
Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh."

Joshua 14:3
For Moses had given the inheritance east of the Jordan to the other two and a half tribes. But he granted no inheritance among them to the Levites.

Ezekiel 42:16
With a measuring rod he measured the east side to be five hundred cubits long.

Ezekiel 45:2
Within this area there is to be a section for the sanctuary 500 cubits square, with 50 cubits around it for open land.

Ezekiel 47:21
You are to divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 48:8
Bordering the territory of Judah, from east to west, will be the portion you are to set apart. It will be 25,000 cubits wide, and the length of a tribal portion from east to west. In the center will be the sanctuary.


Treasury of Scripture

Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an oblation to the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

Ezekiel 47:21
So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 48:29
This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.

Numbers 34:13
And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe:

ye shall offer

Ezekiel 45:2-7
Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof…

Ezekiel 48:8-23
And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it…

Leviticus 25:23
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

an holy portion [heb] holiness

Zechariah 14:20,21
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD'S house shall be like the bowls before the altar…

Ezekiel 45:2
Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.

Ezekiel 42:16-19
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about…

Ezekiel 3:5
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

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Allotment Apart Border Borders Breadth Divide Five Holy Inheritance Lot Moreover Oblation Offer Offering Portion Reeds Round Side Ten Thereof Thousand Twenty Twenty-Five
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Ezekiel 45
1. The portion of land for the sanctuary
6. for the city
7. and for the prince
9. Ordinances for the prince














XLV.

This and the first part of the following chapter form a remarkable portion of the book. They first describe the setting apart of a large part of the whole land for the sanctuary, the priests, the prince, and the city, in a way and in a geographical position entirely unknown either in the past or the subsequent history of the people (Ezekiel 45:1-8). The portion assigned to the prince is to prevent violence and exaction on his part; in this connection all unjust measurements are to cease, and standard weights and measures are prescribed (Ezekiel 45:9-12). Then follow directions for the tax or "oblation" to be paid by the people to the prince, that he may be able to furnish the required sacrifices (Ezekiel 45:13-17). The chapter closes with directions concerning the daily sacrifices and the feasts, these feasts being in part unknown to the law; while some feasts that were prominent in the law are entirely omitted, and the ritual of nearly all is greatly changed. The whole is so different from the arrangements of the Mosaic economy, and so foreign to the restoration of that economy on the return from the exile, that it can only be explained of an ideal picture which both prophet and people understood was not to receive a literal realisation.

(1) When ye shall divide by lot.--The same expression is used in Ezekiel 47:22; Ezekiel 48:29, as it had long before been used in Joshua 13:6; but that it does not imply anything of chance is plain from the fact that in Ezekiel 48 a definite portion of the land is assigned to each of the tribes by name. The idea seems to be the same as is conveyed by our word allotment. . . .

Verses 1-8. - The portions of land that should be allotted to the sanctuary, the city, and the prince. Verse 1. - Moreover, When ye shall divide by lot the land (literally, and in your causing the land to fall) for inheritance. As the territory of Canaan had been originally divided by lot among the twelve tribes after the conquest (comp. Numbers 26:55; Numbers 33:54; Joshua 13:6, etc.), this same method of allocating the soil amongst the new community should be followed on a second time taking possession of it after the exile. Currey believes the phrase, "divide by lot," "does not imply anything like casting lots, but is equivalent to our notion of allotment, the several portions being assigned by rule." There is, however, little doubt "lots" were cast to determine, if not the actual size, at least the precise situation, of each tribe's territory (see REFERENCE_WORK:Keil & DelitzschNumbers 26:54 Keil and 'Pulpit Commentary' on Numbers 26:54). That no such methodical distribution of Canaan ever took place, or for that matter could hays taken place amongst the returned exiles, should be proof sufficient that the prophet here moves in the region of the ideal and symbolical rather than of the real and literal. Ye shall offer an oblation -literally, lift up a heave offering (comp. Ezekiel 44:80; Exodus 25:2, 3; Exodus 29:28; Exodus 30:13, 14; Leviticus 7:14, 32; Leviticus 22:12; Numbers 15:19; Numbers 18:24) - unto the Lord, an holy portion of the land; literally, a holy (portion) from the land. Very significantly, in the new partition of Palestine the Lord's portion should be the first to be marked off and solemnly dedicated to Jehovah for the purposes to be forthwith specified. Those who, like Wellhansen and Smend, perceive in this allotment of land to Jehovah, and therefore to the priests, a contradiction to Ezekiel 44:28, omit to notice first that Jehovah required some place on which his sanctuary might be erected, and the priests some ground on which to build houses for themselves; and secondly, that, so far as the priests were concerned, the laud was given by the people, not to them, but to Jehovah, and by him to them (comp. on Ezekiel 44:28). The exact site of this terumah, or "holy portion," is afterwards indicated (Ezekiel 48:8); meanwhile its dimensions are recorded. The length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. Whether "reeds" or "cubits" should be supplied after "thousand" has divided expositors. Bottcher, Hitzig, Ewald, Hengstenberg, and Smend decide for "cubits," principally on the grounds that "cubits" are mentioned in ver. 2; that "cubits" have been the usual measure hitherto, even (as they contend) in Ezekiel 42:16; and that otherwise the dimensions of this sacred territory must have been colossal, in fact, out of all proportion to the Holy Land, viz. about 720 square miles (25,000 reeds, or 42.5 miles, × 10,000 reeds, or 17 miles, = 722.5 square miles). Havernick, Keil, Kliefoth, Currey, and Plumptre favor "reeds," chiefly for the reasons that in ver. 2 "cubits" are specified, and are therefore to be regarded as exceptional; that the customary measuring instrument throughout has been a reed (see Ezekiel 40:5; Ezekiel 42:16); and that the dimensions, which Ezekiel designed should be colossal (comp. Ezekiel 40:2), correspond exactly with the measurements afterwards given in Ezekiel 48, if these he in reeds, but not if they be in cubits. As to the breadth of this terumah from east to west, Hitzig, Keil, Smend, Schroder, and Plumptre follow the LXX. (εἴκοσι χιλιάδας) in substituting 20,000 for 10,000, considering that the space referred to in ver. 3 appears as if meant to be taken from an already measured larger area, which could only be that of ver. 1 - the portion in ver. 1 being the whole territory assigned to the priests and Levites, and that in ver. 3 the allotment for the priests. Kliefoth, however, contends that no necessity exists for tampering with the text, and certainly if vers. 1-4 be regarded as descriptive of the priests' portion only, and מִן in the phrase, "of this measure" (וּמִן־חַמִּדָּה הַזּלֺאת), in ver. 8 be rendered "according to" - a sense it may have (see Gesenius, sub voce), the supposed difficulty disappears. In this case the demonstrative this in the last clause will refer to the priests' portion exclusively; in the former ease, to the whole portion of the priests and Levites. That Ezekiel 48:14 declares the Levites' portion to be "holy unto the land" does not prove it must have been included in the holy terumah of ver. 1 Nor does this concession follow, as will appear, from ver. 7.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When you divide the land
הָאָ֜רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

by lot
וּבְהַפִּֽילְכֶ֨ם (ū·ḇə·hap·pî·lə·ḵem)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

as an inheritance,
בְּנַחֲלָ֗ה (bə·na·ḥă·lāh)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5159: Something inherited, occupancy, an heirloom, an estate, patrimony, portion

you are to set aside
תָּרִימוּ֩ (tā·rî·mū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 7311: To be high actively, to rise, raise

a portion
תְרוּמָ֨ה (ṯə·rū·māh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8641: Contribution, offering (for sacred uses)

for the LORD,
לַיהוָ֥ה ׀ (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

a holy
קֹדֶשׁ֮ (qō·ḏeš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6944: A sacred place, thing, sanctity

portion of
מִן־ (min-)
Preposition
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of

the land
הָאָרֶץ֒ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

25,000 [cubits]
חֲמִשָּׁ֨ה (ḥă·miš·šāh)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 2568: Five

long
אֹ֗רֶךְ (’ō·reḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 753: Length

and 20,000 cubits
עֲשָׂ֣רָה (‘ă·śā·rāh)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 6235: Ten

wide.
וְרֹ֖חַב (wə·rō·ḥaḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7341: Breadth, width

This
ה֥וּא (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

entire
בְכָל־ (ḇə·ḵāl-)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

tract of land
גְּבוּלָ֖הּ (gə·ḇū·lāh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 1366: A cord, a boundary, the territory inclosed

will be holy.
קֹדֶשׁ־ (qō·ḏeš-)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6944: A sacred place, thing, sanctity


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 45:1 Moreover when you shall divide by lot (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 44:31
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