Ezekiel 45

The Holy District

1 "When ¹you allot the land as an inheritance, ²you shall set apart for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits^[a] long and 20,000^[b] cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent.

2 ³Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for ⁴an open space around it.

3 And ⁵from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, ⁶in which shall be the sanctuary, ⁷the Most Holy Place.

4 ⁸It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the LORD to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 ⁹Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.^[c]

6 "Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district ¹⁰you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. ¹¹It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

The Portion for the Prince

7 ¹²"And to ¹³the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary

8 of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And ¹⁴my princes shall no more oppress my people, but ¹⁵they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

9 "Thus says the Lord GOD: ¹⁶Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease ¹⁷your evictions of my people, declares the Lord GOD.

10 ¹⁸"You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.^[d]

11 The ephah and the bath shall be ¹⁹of the same measure, ²⁰the bath containing one tenth of a homer,^[e] and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure.

12 ²¹The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;^[f] twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.^[g]

13 ²²"This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley,

14 and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor^[h] (the cor, like the homer, contains ²³ten baths).^[i]

15 And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, ²⁴to make atonement for them, declares the Lord GOD.

16 All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel.

17 ²⁵It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 "Thus says the Lord GOD: In the first month, ²⁶on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and ²⁷purify the sanctuary.

19 ²⁸The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it ²⁹on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20 You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.

21 ³⁰"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 On that day the prince ³¹shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering.

23 And on ³²the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and ³³a male goat daily for a sin offering.

24 And ³⁴he shall provide as ³⁵a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin^[j] of oil to each ephah.

25 ³⁶In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, ³⁷he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

Ezekiel 45 Commentary

Chapter 45

- In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Cross References

• 1. [Ezekiel 48:29]; See Ezekiel 47:21, 22
• 2. See Ezekiel 48:8-10
• 3. See Ezekiel 42:16-20
• 4. [Ezekiel 27:28; Ezekiel 48:15, 17]; See Leviticus 25:34
• 5. [ver. 1]
• 6. Ezekiel 48:10
• 7. See Ezekiel 41:4
• 8. [Ezekiel 48:11, 12]
• 9. Ezekiel 48:13
• 10. Ezekiel 48:15
• 11. [Ezekiel 48:18, 19]
• 12. Ezekiel 48:21
• 13. See Ezekiel 44:3
• 14. [Ezekiel 22:27; Ezekiel 46:18]
• 15. Ezekiel 47:13, 21; See Ezekiel 48:1-7, 23-28
• 16. Ezekiel 44:6
• 17. [Ezekiel 46:18]
• 18. See Leviticus 19:35, 36
• 19. [Deuteronomy 25:14, 15]
• 20. [Isaiah 5:10]
• 21. See Exodus 30:13
• 22. Ezekiel 44:30
• 23. ver. 11
• 24. See Leviticus 1:4
• 25. [2 Chronicles 30:24; 2 Chronicles 35:7]; See Ezekiel 46:4-7
• 26. [Ezekiel 46:1, 3, 6]
• 27. Leviticus 16:16; [Ezekiel 43:20, 22, 23]
• 28. See Ezekiel 43:20
• 29. [Exodus 12:7]
• 30. See Leviticus 23:5
• 31. [ver. 17]
• 32. Leviticus 23:8
• 33. Numbers 28:15
• 34. Ezekiel 46:5, 7
• 35. See Leviticus 2:1
• 36. See Leviticus 23:34
• 37. See ver. 22-24

Footnotes

• [a]. A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
• [b]. Septuagint; Hebrew ten
• [c]. Septuagint; Hebrew as their possession, twenty chambers
• [d]. An ephah was about 3/5 of a bushel or 22 liters; a bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters
• [e]. A homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
• [f]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
• [g]. A mina was about 1 1/4 pounds or 0.6 kilogram
• [h]. A cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
• [i]. See Vulgate; Hebrew (ten baths are a homer, for ten baths are a homer)
• [j]. A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 45

This chapter treats of the division of the land in future time, and the persons and uses for which it is to be made; one part being for the sanctuary, and the priests that serve in it, and for their houses for them to dwell in, Eze 45:1-4, another for the Levites and their chambers, Eze 45:5, and another for the city, for the Israelites in common, Eze 45:6, and the last for the prince; and of the situation and extent of it, Eze 45:7,8 and of the righteous administration of civil government in the time of the spiritual reign of Christ, in abstinence from violence and exactions, and doing justice, for which orders and directions are given, Eze 45:9-12, then of the oblations of the people of the land, Eze 45:13-16, and next of those that are to be prepared by the prince, Eze 45:17, and the times of the offering of them, at the beginning of the year, on the feasts of the passover and tabernacles, Eze 45:18-25, the rules for which are so different from the Mosaic law, as show the abrogation of that; and that all this is to be understood in a spiritual and evangelic sense.