Readable English Bible

EzekielChapter 45

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1"When you cast lots to divide the land as an inheritance, you must set apart a part of the land for the LORD. It will be a holy part, about 8 miles long and about 6 1/2 miles wide. All of this land will be holy.a 2In this area there must be a square for the sanctuary, 875 feet on each side. Around it there must be open land 88 feet wide.b 3From this holy part, you must measure off an area about 8 miles long and about 3 miles wide. The sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, will be in it.c 4It will be a holy part of the land for the priests. They serve in the sanctuary and come near to serve the LORD. It will be a place for their houses. It will also be a holy place for the sanctuary. 5Next to it will be an area about 8 miles long and about 3 miles wide. It will belong to the Levites who serve in the temple. It will be their property, with towns for them to live in.d 6You must set apart an area to be the city's property. It will be about 1 2/3 miles wide and about 8 miles long. It will be next to the holy area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.e 7The prince will have the land on both sides of the holy area and the city's property. It will stretch west from the west side and east from the east side. It will run the whole length from the western border to the eastern border. Its length will match one of the tribes' parts. 8This land will be his property in Israel. Then my princes will no longer treat my people cruelly. They will give the rest of the land to the people of Israel by their tribes. 9For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop your violence and cruelty. Do what is fair and right. Stop forcing my people off their land, declares the Lord GOD.' 10You must use honest scales. You must use an honest ephah and an honest bath.f 11The ephah and the bath must be the same amount. A bath must hold one tenth of a homer. An ephah must also be one tenth of a homer. The homer will be the standard measure for both.g 12A shekel will equal twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.h 13This is the gift you must offer: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat. Also give one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. 14The set share of oil, measured by the bath, is one tenth of a bath from each cor. (A cor is ten baths, or one homer, since ten baths equal a homer.) 15One sheep must be given from each flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings. They will make atonement for the people, declares the Lord GOD. 16All the people of the land must take part in giving this gift to the prince in Israel. 17It will be the prince's job to supply the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings. He must supply them for the feasts, the New Moons, and the Sabbaths. He must supply them for all the appointed feasts of the people of Israel. He will supply the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings. They will make atonement for the people of Israel. 18This is what the Lord GOD says: 'On the first day of the first month, take a young bull with no defects. Use it to make the sanctuary pure. 19The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering. He must put it on the doorposts of the temple and on the four corners of the altar's ledge. He must also put it on the gateposts of the inner court. 20You must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins by mistake or without knowing it. In this way you will make atonement for the temple. 21On the fourteenth day of the first month you must keep the Passover. It is a feast that lasts seven days. During that time you must eat bread made without yeast. 22On that day the prince must supply a bull as a sin offering. It will be for himself and for all the people of the land. 23Every day during the seven days of the feast, he must supply seven bulls and seven rams with no defects. They are a burnt offering to the LORD. He must also supply a male goat each day for a sin offering. 24He must also supply a grain offering. He must give an ephah of grain for each bull and an ephah for each ram. He must give a hin of olive oil with each ephah of grain.i 25There is a feast that starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. During its seven days, he must supply the same things. He must give the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.'

Notes

  1. a 45:1 Literally 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide (following the Greek; the Hebrew reads 10,000 cubits wide).
  2. b 45:2 Hebrew: 500 cubits; 50 cubits.
  3. c 45:3 Hebrew: 25,000 cubits; 10,000 cubits.
  4. d 45:5 Hebrew: 25,000 cubits; 10,000 cubits.
  5. e 45:6 Hebrew: 5,000 cubits; 25,000 cubits.
  6. f 45:10 An ephah was a dry measure, about 5 gallons. A bath was a liquid measure of about the same size.
  7. g 45:11 A homer was about 50 gallons.
  8. h 45:12 A shekel weighed about 2/5 ounce. A mina was 60 shekels, about 1 1/2 pounds.
  9. i 45:24 A hin was about 1 gallon.