Ezekiel 47:13-23

Division of the Land

13 Thus says the Lord GOD: "This is the boundary^[a] by which ¹you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. ²Joseph shall have two portions.

14 And you shall divide equally what ³I swore ⁴to give to your fathers. ⁵This land shall fall to you as your inheritance.

15 "This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from ⁶the Great Sea ⁷by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to ⁸Zedad,^[b]

16 ⁹Berothah, Sibraim (which lies on the border between ¹⁰Damascus and ¹¹Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran.

17 So the boundary shall run from the sea to ¹²Hazar-enan, which is on the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north.^[c] This shall be the north side.^[d]

18 "On the east side, the boundary shall run between Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between ¹³Gilead and the land of Israel; to ¹⁴the eastern sea and as far as Tamar.^[e] This shall be the east side.

19 "On the south side, it shall run from ¹⁵Tamar as far as ¹⁶the waters of Meribah-kadesh, from there along ¹⁷the Brook of Egypt^[f] to ¹⁸the Great Sea. This shall be the south side.

20 "On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point ¹⁹opposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side.

21 ²⁰"So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel.

22 ²¹You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and ²²for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. ²³They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

23 In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord GOD.

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Ezekiel 47:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 47

This chapter gives an account of the vision of the holy waters, and of the borders of the holy land, and the division of it to Israelites and strangers. The waters are described by the original and spring of them, Eze 47:1,2, by the progress and increase of them, Eze 47:3-5, by the healing and quickening nature of them, and the places where they were so, and were not, Eze 47:8-11, and by the trees which grew upon the banks of them, Eze 47:6,7,12. The borders of the holy land are fixed, Eze 47:13,14, the northern border, Eze 47:15-17, the eastern border, Eze 47:18, the southern, Eze 47:19, and the western, Eze 47:20, which is to be divided by lot to the tribes of Israel, and the strangers that sojourn among them, Eze 47:21-23.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 23

1. Ezekiel 45:8; See Ezekiel 48:1-7, 23-28
2. [Ezekiel 48:4, 5]; See Joshua 17:14-18
3. See Ezekiel 20:5
4. See Genesis 12:7
5. [Ezekiel 48:29]
6. [See ver. 10 above]
7. Ezekiel 48:1
8. Numbers 34:8
9. 2 Samuel 8:8
10. Ezekiel 48:1; Isaiah 7:8
11. [See ver. 15 above]
12. [Ezekiel 48:1]
13. Joshua 13:11
14. Joel 2:20
15. Genesis 14:7; 2 Chronicles 20:2
16. Numbers 20:13
17. Numbers 34:5
18. See Joshua 15:12
19. [See ver. 15 above]
20. ver. 13
21. Ezekiel 45:1; Ezekiel 48:29
22. Isaiah 14:1; [Ephesians 3:6]
23. Ex. 12:19, 48, 49; [Romans 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11]

Footnotes 6

[a]. Probable reading; Hebrew The valley of the boundary
[b]. Septuagint; Hebrew the entrance of Zedad, Hamath
[c]. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[d]. Probable reading; Hebrew and as for the north side
[e]. Compare Syriac; Hebrew to the eastern sea you shall measure
[f]. Hebrew lacks of Egypt

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.