Ezekiel 45:1-5

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]

Ezekiel 45:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References 9

  • 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

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
  • [b]. Septuagint; Hebrew ten
  • [c]. Septuagint; Hebrew as their possession, twenty chambers
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.