Chapter 48
1 These are the names[a] of the tribes:
At the northern end, along the side of the way to Hethlon, Lebo-hamath, and Hazar-enon, the border of Damascus, and northward up to the frontier with Hamath, from the eastern border to the western: Dan, one portion. 2 Along the territory of Dan from the eastern border to the western border: Asher, one portion.(A) 3 Along the territory of Asher from the eastern border to the western border: Naphtali, one portion.(B) 4 Along the territory of Naphtali from the eastern border to the western border: Manasseh, one portion.(C) 5 Along the territory of Manasseh from the eastern border to the western border: Ephraim, one portion.(D) 6 Along the territory of Ephraim from the eastern border to the western border: Reuben, one portion.(E) 7 Along the territory of Reuben from the eastern border to the western border: Judah, one portion.(F)
The Sacred Tract. 8 Along the territory of Judah from the eastern border to the western border is the tract you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits wide and as long as one of the portions from the eastern border to the western border. The sanctuary shall stand in the center of the tract. 9 The tract you set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits long by twenty thousand wide. 10 The sacred tract will be given to the following: the priests shall have twenty-five thousand cubits on the north, ten thousand on the west, ten thousand on the east, and twenty-five thousand on the south. The sanctuary of the Lord shall be in its center. 11 The consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who fulfilled my service and did not stray with the Israelites as the Levites did, 12 shall have their own tract set apart, next to the territory of the Levites, separate from the most holy tract. 13 The Levites shall have territory corresponding to that of the priests, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide. The whole tract shall be twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand wide. 14 They may not sell or exchange or transfer any of it, the best part of the land, for it is sacred to the Lord. 15 The remaining section, five thousand cubits long and twenty-five thousand cubits wide, is profane land, assigned to the city for dwellings and pasture. The city is at its center. 16 These are the dimensions of the city: the north side, forty-five hundred cubits; the south side, forty-five hundred cubits; the east side, forty-five hundred cubits; and the west side, forty-five hundred cubits.(G) 17 The pasture land for the city extends north two hundred fifty cubits, south two hundred fifty cubits, east two hundred fifty cubits, and west two hundred fifty cubits. 18 The remaining section runs eastward along the sacred tract for ten thousand cubits and westward ten thousand cubits. Its produce shall provide food for the workers of the city. 19 The workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. 20 The entire sacred tract measures twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits; as a square you shall set apart the sacred tract together with the city property.
21 The remaining land on both sides of the sacred tract and the property of the city shall belong to the prince, extending eastward twenty-five thousand cubits up to the eastern boundary, and westward twenty-five thousand cubits to the western boundary. This portion belongs to the prince and corresponds to the tribal portions. The sacred tract and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the middle. 22 Except for the Levites’ property and the city’s property, which are in the middle of the prince’s property, the territory between the portion of Judah and the portion of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
The Southern Portions. 23 These are the remaining tribes:
From the eastern border to the western border: Benjamin, one portion.(H) 24 Along the territory of Benjamin from the eastern border to the western border: Simeon, one portion.(I) 25 Along the territory of Simeon from the eastern border to the western border: Issachar, one portion.(J) 26 Along the territory of Issachar from the eastern border to the western border: Zebulun, one portion.(K) 27 Along the territory of Zebulun from the eastern border to the western border: Gad, one portion.(L) 28 Along the territory of Gad shall be the southern border. This boundary shall extend from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. 29 This is the land you shall apportion as a heritage among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions—oracle of the Lord God.
The Gates of the City. 30 These are the exits from the city: On the north side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits— 31 the gates are named after the tribes of Israel—on the north, three gates: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; and the gate of Levi, one. 32 On the east side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; and the gate of Dan, one. 33 On the south side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; and the gate of Zebulun, one. 34 On the west side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; and the gate of Naphtali, one.(M) 35 The circuit of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits. From now on the name of the city is “The Lord is there.”(N)
Footnotes
- 48:1–29 This distribution of the land among the tribes does not correspond to the geographical realities of Palestine. It is another idealizing element in Ezekiel’s representation of a restored and transformed Israel.
Cross references
- 48:2 : Jos 19:24–31.
- 48:3 : Jos 19:32–39.
- 48:4 : Jos 17:1–11.
- 48:5 : Jos 16:5–9.
- 48:6 : Jos 13:15–21.
- 48:7 : Jos 15:1–63.
- 48:16 : Rev 21:16.
- 48:23 : Jos 18:11–28.
- 48:24 : Jos 19:1–9.
- 48:25 : Jos 19:17–23.
- 48:26 : Jos 19:10–16.
- 48:27 : Jos 13:24–28.
- 48:34 : Rev 21:12–13.
- 48:35 : Is 2:6; Rev 3:12; 21:3.