The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Now these are the names of the tribes: from the north end, from the west on the way of Hethlon to the way into Hamath, in the direction of Hazar-enon, with the limit of Damascus to the north, by Hamath; and on the limit from the east side to the west side: Dan, one part.
1
The northern boundary of the land runs eastward from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon, to Hamath Pass, to Enon City, to the boundary between the kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath. Each tribe is to receive one section of land extending from the eastern boundary west to the Mediterranean Sea, in the following order from north to south: Dan Asher Naphtali Manasseh Ephraim Reuben Judah
2 And on the limit of Dan, from the east side to the west side: Asher, one part.
3 And on the limit of Asher, from the east side to the west side: Naphtali, one part.
4 And on the limit of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side: Manasseh, one part.
5 And on the limit of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side: Ephraim, one part.
6 And on the limit of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side: Reuben, one part.
7 And on the limit of Reuben, from the east side to the west side: Judah, one part.
8 And on the limit of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the offering which you are to make, twenty-five thousand wide, and as long as one of the parts, from the east side to the west side: and the holy place will be in the middle of it.
8
The next section of the land is to be set apart for special use. It is to be 10 miles wide from north to south, and the same length from east to west as the sections given to the tribes. The Temple will be located within this section.
9 The offering you will give to the Lord is to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty-five thousand wide.
9
In the center of this section, a special area 10 miles by 8 miles is to be dedicated to the Lord.
10 And for these, that is the priests, the holy offering is to be twenty-five thousand long to the north, ten thousand wide to the west, ten thousand wide to the east and twenty-five thousand long to the south; and the holy place of the Lord will be in the middle of it.
10
The priests are to have a portion of this holy area. From east to west their portion is to measure 10 miles, and from north to south, 4 miles. The Temple of the Lord is to be located in the middle of this area.
11 For the priests who have been made holy, those of the sons of Zadok who kept the orders I gave them, who did not go out of the right way when the children of Israel went from the way, as the Levites did,
11
This holy area is to be for the priests who are descendants of Zadok. They served me faithfully and did not join the rest of the Israelites in doing wrong, as the other members of the tribe of Levi did.
12 Even for them will be the offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, on the limit of the land given to the Levites.
12
So they are to have a special area next to the area belonging to the Levites, and it will be the holiest of all.
13 And the Levites are to have a part of the land equal to the limit of the priests', twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide, all of it together to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty thousand wide.
13
The Levites also are to have a special area, south of that of the priests. It too is to be 10 miles from east to west, by 4 miles from north to south.
14 And they are not to let any of it go for a price, or give it in exchange; and the part of the land given to the Lord is not to go into other hands: for it is holy to the Lord.
14
The area dedicated to the Lord is the best part of all the land, and none of it may be sold or exchanged or transferred to anyone else. It is holy and belongs to the Lord.
15 And the other five thousand, measured from side to side, in front of the twenty-five thousand, is to be for common use, for the town, for living in and for a free space: and the town will be in the middle of it.
15
The part of the special area that is left, 10 miles by 2 miles, is not holy, but is for the general use of the people. They may live there and use the land. The city is to be in the center of it,
16 And these will be its measures: the north side, four thousand five hundred, and the south side, four thousand five hundred, and on the east side, four thousand five hundred, and on the west side, four thousand five hundred.
16
and it will be a square, 2,520 yards on each side.
17 And the town will have a free space on the north of two hundred and fifty, on the south of two hundred and fifty, on the east of two hundred and fifty, and on the west of two hundred and fifty.
17
All around the city on each side there will be an open space 140 yards across.
18 And the rest, in measure as long as the holy offering, will be ten thousand to the east and ten thousand to the west: and its produce will be for food for the workers of the town.
18
The land that is left after the city has been built in the area immediately to the south of the holy area - 4 miles by 2 miles on the east and 4 miles by 2 miles on the west - is to be used as farmland by the people who live in the city.
19 It will be farmed by workers of the town from all the tribes of Israel.
19
Anyone who lives in the city, no matter which tribe he comes from, may farm that land.
20 The size of the offering all together is to be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you are to make the holy offering a square, together with the property of the town.
20
And so the total area in the center of the section which was set apart will be a square measuring 10 miles on each side, and it will include the area occupied by the city.
21 And the rest is to be for the prince, on this side and on that side of the holy offering and of the property of the town, in front of the twenty-five thousand to the east, as far as the east limit, and to the west, in front of the twenty-five thousand, as far as the west limit, and of the same measure as those parts; it will be the property of the prince: and the holy offering and holy place of the house will be in the middle of it.
21
To the east and to the west of this area which contains the Temple, the priests' land, the Levites' land, and the city, the remaining land belongs to the ruling prince. It reaches east to the eastern boundary and west to the Mediterranean Sea, and is bounded on the north by the section belonging to Judah and on the south by the one belonging to Benjamin.
22 And the property of the Levites and the property of the town will be in the middle of the prince's property; between the limit of Judah's part and the limit of Benjamin's part will be for the prince.
23 And as for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side: Benjamin, one part.
23
South of this special section, each of the remaining tribes is to receive one section of land running from the eastern boundary west to the Mediterranean Sea, in the following order from north to south: Benjamin Simeon Issachar Zebulun Gad
24 And on the limit of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side: Simeon, one part.
25 And on the limit of Simeon, from the east side to the west side: Issachar, one part.
26 And on the limit of Issachar, from the east side to the west side: Zebulun, one part.
27 And on the limit of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side: Gad one part.
28 And on the limit of Gad, on the south side and to the south of it, the limit will be from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the stream, to the Great Sea.
28
On the south side of the portion given to the tribe of Gad, the boundary runs southwest from Tamar to the oasis of Kadesh, and then northwest along the Egyptian border to the Mediterranean Sea.
29 This is the land of which distribution is to be made by the decision of the Lord, among the tribes of Israel for their heritage, and these are their heritages, says the Lord.
29
The Sovereign Lord said, "That is the way the land is to be divided into sections for the tribes of Israel to possess."
30 And these are the outskirts of the town: on the north side, four thousand five hundred by measure;
30
There are twelve entrances to the city of Jerusalem. Each of the four walls measures 2,520 yards and has three gates in it, each named for one of the tribes. The gates in the north wall are named for Reuben, Judah, and Levi; those in the east wall, for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; those in the south wall, for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun; and those in the west wall are named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.
31 And the doors of the town are to be named by the names of the tribes of Israel; three doors on the north, one for Reuben, one for Judah, one for Levi;
32 And at the east side, four thousand five hundred by measure, and three doors, one for Joseph, one for Benjamin, one for Dan;
33 And at the south side, four thousand five hundred by measure, and three doors, one for Simeon, one for Issachar, one for Zebulun;
34 At the west side, four thousand five hundred by measure, with their three doors, one for Gad, one for Asher, one for Naphtali.
35 It is to be eighteen thousand all round: and the name of the town from that day will be, The Lord is there.
35
The total length of the wall on all four sides of the city is 10,080 yards. The name of the city from now on will be "The-Lord-Is-Here!"
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.