Ezekiel 45:1-6

The Lord’s Portion of the Land

45:1 “‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment ¹  to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles ²  and the width three and one-third miles. ³  This entire area will be holy. ⁴  45:2 Of this area a square 875 feet ⁵  by 875 feet will be designated for the sanctuary, with 87½ feet ⁶  set aside for its open space round about. 45:3 From this measured area you will measure a length of eight and a quarter miles ⁷  and a width of three and one-third miles; ⁸  in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place. 45:4 It will be a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who approach the Lord to minister to him. It will be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁹  45:5 An area eight and a quarter miles ¹⁰  in length and three and one-third miles ¹¹  in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities ¹²  in which they will live.

45:6 “‘Alongside the portion set apart as the holy allotment, you will allot for the city an area one and two-thirds miles ¹³  wide and eight and a quarter miles ¹⁴  long; it will be for the whole house of Israel.

[45:1]  ¹ tn Heb “a contribution.”

[45:1]  ² tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers). The measuring units here are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard miles (one mile = 5,280 feet), with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.

[45:1]  ³ tc The LXX reads “twenty thousand cubits.”

[45:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “holy it is in all its territory round about.”

[45:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “five hundred cubits” (i.e., 262.5 meters); the phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[45:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

[45:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers).

[45:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “ten thousand cubits” (i.e., 5.25 kilometers).

[45:4]  ⁹ tc The LXX apparently understood “open land” instead of “sanctuary.”

[45:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers).

[45:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ten thousand cubits” (i.e., 5.25 kilometers).

[45:5]  ¹² tc The translation follows the LXX here. The MT reads “twenty.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:246.

[45:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “five thousand cubits” (i.e., 2.625 kilometers).

[45:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers).