Ezekiel 48

Chapter 48.

48 ¹ Now these are the names of the tribes: at the northern end, beside the road of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan on the border of Damascus northward, beside Hamath — running from the east side to the west — Dan shall have one portion.

² Beside the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher shall have one portion.

³ Beside the border of Asher, from the east side to the west side, Naphtali shall have one portion.

⁴ Beside the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh shall have one portion.

⁵ Beside the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim shall have one portion.

⁶ Beside the border of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, Reuben shall have one portion.

⁷ Beside the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah shall have one portion.

The Sacred Portion for Priests and Levites

⁸ Beside the border of Judah, from east to west, shall be the portion you set apart — about eight miles wide and as long as one of the other tribal portions, from east to west — and the sanctuary shall be in its midst.

⁹ The portion you set apart for our Father shall be about eight miles long and about three miles wide. ¹⁰ To these — to the priests — shall belong the holy portion: about eight miles to the north, about three miles wide on the west, about three miles wide on the east, and about eight miles to the south; and the sanctuary of our Father shall be in its midst. ¹¹ It shall be for the consecrated priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge and did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. ¹² It shall be for them a special gift from the set-apart portion of the land, a most holy thing, beside the border of the Levites.

¹³ Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have a strip about eight miles long and about three miles wide; the whole length shall be about eight miles and the width about three miles. ¹⁴ They must not sell or exchange any of it, nor let the best of the land pass to others, for it is holy to our Father.

The Common Land and the City

¹⁵ The remaining strip, about a mile and a half wide, alongside the eight miles, shall be common land for the city — for homes and open land; and the city shall be in its midst. ¹⁶ These shall be its measurements: the north side about one and a half miles, the south side about one and a half miles, the east side about one and a half miles, and the west side about one and a half miles. ¹⁷ The open land of the city shall be: northward about one hundred and fifty yards, southward about one hundred and fifty yards, eastward about one hundred and fifty yards, and westward about one hundred and fifty yards. ¹⁸ What remains in length alongside the holy portion — about three miles to the east and about three miles to the west — shall run alongside the holy portion, and its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. ¹⁹ The workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, will farm it. ²⁰ The whole set-apart portion shall be about eight miles by eight miles, a square; you shall set apart the holy portion together with the property of the city.

The Prince's Portion

²¹ What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince. Alongside the eight miles of the holy portion, as far as the eastern border, and westward alongside the eight miles to the western border, running beside the tribal portions, it shall be the prince's; and the holy portion with the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst. ²² So the property of the Levites and the property of the city shall lie in the midst of what belongs to the prince; between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin shall be the prince's.

The Remaining Tribes Receive Their Land

²³ As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin shall have one portion.

²⁴ Beside the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon shall have one portion.

²⁵ Beside the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar shall have one portion.

²⁶ Beside the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun shall have one portion.

²⁷ Beside the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad shall have one portion.

²⁸ Beside the border of Gad, on the south side southward, the border shall run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then along the Brook to the Great Sea.

²⁹ This is the land you shall allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the Sovereign Father.

The Gates of the Holy City

³⁰ These are the exits of the city: on the north side, measuring about one and a half miles,

³¹ the gates of the city shall be named for the tribes of Israel — three gates on the north: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi.

³² On the east side, about one and a half miles, with three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan.

³³ On the south side, measuring about one and a half miles, with three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.

³⁴ On the west side, about one and a half miles, with three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali.

³⁵ The perimeter shall be about six miles all around. And the name of the city from that day shall be: Our Father Is There. ¹ 1 v35 The whole book of Ezekiel ends on this name. After all the exile and loss, the city's new name says the one thing that matters: our Father is there, dwelling with his people forever.