Ezekiel 48 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
573 BC, the twenty-fifth year of the Babylonian exile
Location
The whole land of Israel, laid out as horizontal strips from the northern border to the southern, with the city and sanctuary at the center
Audience
Judean exiles in Babylonia, descendants of a nation that had been split into rival kingdoms and then scattered
Situation
The twelve tribes each receive an equal band of territory, with a central sacred portion for the sanctuary, the priests, the Levites, the city, and the ruler. The book ends by naming the city's twelve gates after the tribes and giving the city the name The Lord Is There.
Key Background
The layout ignores the actual geography and history of tribal settlement, where territory sizes varied enormously and Judah dominated the south, and instead gives every tribe an identical strip, which erases the old inequalities that had fueled the split between north and south. Tribes descended from Jacob's secondary wives are placed farthest from the sanctuary and those from Rachel and Leah nearest, so the arrangement still encodes a ranking even while equalizing land. Ancient cities were named for their patron deity or founding king, so ending the book with a city named for God's presence completes the arc that began with God's presence leaving the old Jerusalem.
These are the listed by name: At the northern frontier — along the road to Hethlon, through Lebo-hamath, to Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath — from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for
Alongside Dan's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for
Alongside Asher's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Naphtali.
Alongside Naphtali's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Manasseh.
Alongside Manasseh's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for
Alongside Ephraim's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Reuben.
Alongside Reuben's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for
Alongside Judah's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea, will be the you set aside for twenty-five thousand cubits wide and as long as one of the tribal portions from east to west, with the for at its center.
The portion you set aside for will be twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide.
This is how the for will be divided: For the twenty-five thousand cubits on the north side, ten thousand wide on the west, ten thousand wide on the east, and twenty-five thousand long on the south. The for will stand at its center.
This will belong to the priests from the line of the who kept their charge and did not wander off with the rest of Israel the way the Levites did.
It will be their own share of the land set aside, a place that to next to the territory of the
Alongside the priests' territory, the Levites will have a portion twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide. The total length will be twenty-five thousand and the width ten thousand.
They must not sell any of it, or trade it, or transfer the best of the land to anyone else, because it to
The remaining strip, five thousand cubits wide alongside the twenty-five thousand, is for by the city: housing and open pasture. The city will sit at its center.
These are the city's measurements: the north side — four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side — four thousand five hundred, the east side — four thousand five hundred, the west side — four thousand five hundred.
The city will have pastureland: two hundred fifty cubits to the north, two hundred fifty to the south, two hundred fifty to the east, two hundred fifty to the west.
The remaining length alongside the for ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west, will run parallel to the for Its produce will provide food for the workers of the city.
The workers who farm the city's land will come from all the of
The whole area will be a twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits. You will set aside the for together with the city's property as one unit.
Whatever remains on both sides of the for and the city property belongs to the prince. The land stretching from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the eastward to the border, and westward from the twenty-five thousand cubits to the western sea, parallel to the tribal portions, belongs to the The for will lie in the middle of it, with the for at its center.
So — apart from the Levites' property and the city property that lie in the center of what belongs to the prince — everything between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin will belong to the prince.
Now for the rest of the tribes: From the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for
Alongside Benjamin's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Simeon.
Alongside Simeon's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Issachar.
Alongside Issachar's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Zebulun.
Alongside Zebulun's border, from the eastern edge to the western sea: one portion for Gad.
Along Gad's southern border, the frontier will run from Tamar to the waters of then along the Wadi of Egypt to the
This is the land you will distribute by lot as an to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions. — the of the
These are the of the city: On the north side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits —
the of the will be the of Israel. Three on the north: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, the gate of Levi.
On the east side, four thousand five hundred cubits, with three gates: the of the of Benjamin, the of Dan.
On the south side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits, with three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, the gate of Zebulun.
On the west side, four thousand five hundred cubits, with three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, the gate of Naphtali.
The total of the city: eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city from that day forward: Yahweh Is There.