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Ezekiel 45

KJV · Chapter 45/48

1Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

2Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.

3And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place.

4The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary.

5And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty chambers.

6And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

7And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.

8In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God.

10Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

11The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

12And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.

13This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley:

14Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer:

15And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God.

16All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.

17And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

18Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:

19And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house.

21In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.

23And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.

24And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.

25In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God establishes the division of a sacred portion of land for the sanctuary, the priests, the Levites, and the city, requires honest scales and measures in trade, and details the offerings for the annual feasts, including Passover.

Explanation

The command to use 'just scales' and correct measures (v.10) directly links proper worship of God with everyday economic justice — a recurring theme among the prophets (see also Amos 8:5, Proverbs 11:1), showing that true faith does not separate religious worship from ethics in business. The careful division of the land among sacred, priestly, and public use prevents both the religious exploitation of the common people and the profaning of the sacred by commercial interests, carefully balancing the community's different needs. The specific mention of the 'prince' with particular religious responsibilities (v.16-17) shows a political leadership that actively serves the people and worship, in direct contrast to the corrupt and self-serving kings condemned in earlier chapters of the book.

Fun facts

  • The units of weight and volume mentioned (shekel, gerah, ephah, bath, homer) form one of the best-documented systems of weights and measures in the Old Testament, allowing archaeologists to reconstruct the ancient Israelite commercial system with reasonable precision.
  • The biblical insistence on honest scales was so socially important that stone weights engraved with their exact values, used to verify merchants' honesty, have been found by archaeologists in excavations throughout the region of Israel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezekiel 45:1The “oblation” of land set aside for the temple, the priests, the Levites, and the city organizes the sacred space as a central block within the tribes’ territory — an ideal plan within the vision, not the description of a city that ever actually existed this way.
  2. Ezekiel 45:2Within the great sacred area, an even smaller square (500 by 500 cubits) is set aside specifically for the sanctuary, with a free strip of 50 cubits around it as a protective zone.
  3. Ezekiel 45:3Repeats the measurement of the sacred area, twenty-five thousand by ten thousand cubits, specifying that this is where the sanctuary and the most holy place stand.
  4. Ezekiel 45:4This strip of holy land is set aside for the priests who serve in the sanctuary — including space for both the temple and their own houses.
  5. Ezekiel 45:5The Levites, assistants to the priests without access to the most central functions, receive a strip of land the same size, next to the priests’, for their dwellings.
  6. Ezekiel 45:6A separate, smaller area next to the holy strip is set aside for the city — a space for common use by the whole people of Israel, not just the priests.
  7. Ezekiel 45:7The “prince” receives land on both sides of this central strip, stretching from east to west — a position of prominence, but one that surrounds the sacred area rather than occupying its center.
  8. Ezekiel 45:8The prince’s land is declared his own possession, but with an explicit condition: he must no longer oppress the people the way the ancient kings did, leaving each tribe with its own portion.
  9. Ezekiel 45:9The demand for honest weights and measures, aimed directly at the princes, targets a specific kind of corruption common in antiquity: rigged scales used to cheat in trade — the text treats this as part of the same social injustice criticized elsewhere in the book.
  10. Ezekiel 45:10A practical order right after the criticism of the princes: use honest scales and measures in trade, preventing economic abuse against the people.
  11. Ezekiel 45:11Standardizes the units of measure — the ephah for solids, the bath for liquids — as equal fractions of one larger measure, the homer, preventing fraud through inconsistent measures.
  12. Ezekiel 45:12Also standardizes the shekel, a unit of weight used as currency, and its fractions, reinforcing the same principle of fairness in commercial transactions.
  13. Ezekiel 45:13Details the people’s mandatory offering: a small, fixed fraction of the wheat and barley harvest, set aside to support the temple and the prince.
  14. Ezekiel 45:14The same logic of a mandatory offering, now applied to oil, with its own unit of measure.
  15. Ezekiel 45:15Also includes a lamb from the flock as part of this regular contribution, set aside for various kinds of offerings and for the people’s atonement.
  16. Ezekiel 45:16Makes clear that this contribution is the responsibility of all the people of the land, delivered through the prince.
  17. Ezekiel 45:17Details the prince’s central role in the system of worship: he funds and provides the offerings for all the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths — a role of provider, not of priest.
  18. Ezekiel 45:18The instructions for Passover in this future temple have small differences from the rules in Exodus and Leviticus, such as the number of days and sacrifices — a point long recognized and discussed by students of the book, without the text itself explaining the difference.
  19. Ezekiel 45:19Details the ritual for purifying the sanctuary: the sacrifice’s blood is applied to the doorposts of the house and of the altar, similar to the consecration ritual in chapter 43.
  20. Ezekiel 45:20The same ritual repeats on the seventh day of the month, specifically because of sins committed by mistake or ignorance — acknowledging that not every failure is intentional.
  21. Ezekiel 45:21Establishes the celebration of the Passover, with seven days of unleavened bread, in the same month as the temple’s purification.
  22. Ezekiel 45:22The prince covers the cost of the sin offering on this day, both for himself and for all the people.
  23. Ezekiel 45:23Details the daily sacrifices during the seven days of Passover: seven bulls and seven rams each day, plus a goat for atonement.
  24. Ezekiel 45:24Specifies the amounts of grain and oil offerings that accompany each animal sacrificed on these days.
  25. Ezekiel 45:25Establishes a second seven-day feast, in the seventh month, equivalent to the ancient Feast of Tabernacles, following the same pattern of sacrifices as Passover.

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