Chronological Plan

¹‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east shall be shut for the six working days; but it shall be opened on the Sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon.

²The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

³The people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

⁴The burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish;

⁵and the grain offering shall be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs as much as he is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

⁶On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish.

⁷And he shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

⁸When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate, and go out by the same way.

⁹But when the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, one who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And one who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but shall go straight out.

¹⁰And when they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹“At the festivals and the appointed feasts, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

¹²And when the prince provides a voluntary offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a voluntary offering to the LORD, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

¹³“And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.

¹⁴You shall also provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the LORD continually by a permanent ordinance.

¹⁵So they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, morning by morning, as a continual burnt offering.”

¹⁶‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “If the prince gives a gift from his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.

¹⁷But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of release; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons’; it shall belong to them.

¹⁸And the prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, depriving them of their property; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own property, so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his property.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and behold, a place was there at the extreme rear toward the west.

²⁰And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer courtyard and transfer holiness to the people.”

²¹Then he brought me out into the outer courtyard and led me across to the four corners of the courtyard; and behold, in every corner of the courtyard there was a small courtyard.

²²In the four corners of the courtyard there were enclosed courtyards, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size.

²³And there was a row of masonry all around in them, around the four of them, and cooking hearths were made under the rows all around.

²⁴Then he said to me, “These are the cooking places where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

¹Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar.

²And he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate, by the way facing east. And behold, water was spurting out from the south side.

³When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles.

⁴Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the hips.

⁵Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not wade across, because the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed by wading.

⁶And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river.

⁷Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

⁸Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh.

⁹And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.

¹⁰And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many.

¹¹But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

¹²And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

¹³This is what the Lord GOD says: “This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions.

¹⁴And you shall divide it for an inheritance, each one equally with the other; for I swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.

¹⁵“And this shall be the boundary of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;

¹⁶Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

¹⁷The boundary shall extend from the sea to Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, and on the north toward the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

¹⁸“The east side, from between Hauran, Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side.

¹⁹“The south side toward the south shall extend from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt and to the Great Sea. This is the south side toward the south.

²⁰“And the west side shall be the Great Sea, from the south border to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This is the west side.

²¹“So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

²²You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the strangers who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

²³And in the tribe with which the stranger resides, there you shall give him his inheritance,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹“Now these are the names of the tribes: from the northern extremity, beside the way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, toward the north beside Hamath, running from east to west, Dan, one portion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁸“And beside the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the allotment which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length like one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.

⁹The allotment that you shall set apart to the LORD shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width.

¹⁰The holy allotment shall be for these, namely for the priests, toward the north twenty-five thousand cubits in length, toward the west ten thousand in width, toward the east ten thousand in width, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length; and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its midst.

¹¹It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have taken the responsibility I gave them, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray.

¹²It shall be an allotment to them from the allotment of the land, a most holy reserve, by the border of the Levites.

¹³And alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. The entire length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the width ten thousand.

¹⁴Moreover, they shall not sell or exchange any of it, or allow this choice portion of land to pass to others; for it is holy to the LORD.

¹⁵“The remainder, five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for common use for the city, for homes and for open spaces; and the city shall be in its midst.

¹⁶And these shall be its measurements: the north side, 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side, 4,500 cubits.

¹⁷The city shall have open spaces: on the north 250 cubits, on the south 250 cubits, on the east 250 cubits, and on the west 250 cubits.

¹⁸The remainder of the length alongside the holy allotment shall be ten thousand cubits toward the east and ten thousand toward the west; and it shall be alongside the holy allotment. And its produce shall be food for the workers of the city.

¹⁹And the workers of the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it.

²⁰The whole allotment shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits; you shall set apart the holy allotment, a square, with the property of the city.

²¹“The remainder shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy allotment and of the property of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand cubits of the allotment toward the east border and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, alongside the portions, it shall be for the prince. And the holy allotment and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the middle of it.

²²And exclusive of the property of the Levites and the property of the city, which are in the middle of that which belongs to the prince, everything between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.

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

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

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

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

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

²⁸And beside the border of Gad, at the south side toward the south, the border shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the Great Sea.

²⁹This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for an inheritance, and these are their several portions,” declares the Lord GOD.

³⁰“Now these are the exits of the city: on the north side, 4,500 cubits by measurement,

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

³²On the east side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; and the gate of Dan, one.

³³On the south side, 4,500 cubits by measurement, shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; and the gate of Zebulun, one.

³⁴On the west side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; and the gate of Naphtali, one.

³⁵The city shall be eighteen thousand cubits all around; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’ ”