Ezekiel 45:1-12

Israel Fully Restored

1 “ ‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits^[a] long and 20,000^[b] cubits^[c] wide; the entire area will be holy.

2 Of this, a section 500 cubits^[d] square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits^[e] around it for open land.

3 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits^[f] wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.^[g]

6 “ ‘You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits^[h] wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to all Israel.

7 “ ‘The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions.

8 This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the people of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.

9 “ ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD.

10 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah^[i] and an accurate bath.^[j]

11 The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both.

12 The shekel^[k] is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina.^[l]

Ezekiel 45:1-12 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

• 1. S Numbers 34:13; Ezekiel 47:21-22
• 2. Eze 48:8-9,29
• 3. Ezekiel 42:20
• 4. S Ezekiel 40:46
• 5. Ezekiel 48:10-11
• 6. Ezekiel 48:13
• 7. Ezekiel 48:15-18
• 8. Ezekiel 48:21
• 9. S Numbers 26:53; Ezekiel 46:18
• 10. Psalms 12:5
• 11. S Jeremiah 22:3; Zechariah 7:9-10; Zechariah 8:16
• 12. Deuteronomy 25:15; S Proverbs 11:1; Amos 8:4-6; Micah 6:10-11
• 13. S Leviticus 19:36
• 14. Isaiah 5:10
• 15. Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, about 8 miles or about 13 kilometers; also in verses 3, 5 and 6
• [b]. Septuagint (see also verses 3 and 5 and 48:9); Hebrew "10,000"
• [c]. That is, about 6 1/2 miles or about 11 kilometers
• [d]. That is, about 875 feet or about 265 meters
• [e]. That is, about 88 feet or about 27 meters
• [f]. That is, about 3 1/3 miles or about 5.3 kilometers; also in verse 5
• [g]. Septuagint; Hebrew "temple; they will have as their possession 20 rooms"
• [h]. That is, about 1 2/3 miles or about 2.7 kilometers
• [i]. An ephah was a dry measure having the capacity of about 3/5 bushel or about 22 liters.
• [j]. A bath was a liquid measure equaling about 6 gallons or about 22 liters.
• [k]. A shekel weighed about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams.
• [l]. That is, 60 shekels; the common mina was 50 shekels. Sixty shekels were about 1 1/2 pounds or about 690 grams.