How they must divide the land
1The Lord said: ‘When you divide the land among the tribes, you must also give some land to the Lord. It will become a holy part of the land. This part of land must be 25 000 cubits long and 20 000 cubits wide. The land must be holy. 2You must use a part of this land for the temple-ground. It must be 500 cubits long and 500 cubits wide, and around the temple-ground there must be a field for animals. It must be 50 cubits wide. 3From the big part of holy land you must measure a smaller part, 25 000 cubits long and 10 000 cubits wide. This must be the most holy place. 4This must be the holy part of the land. The priests who work at the temple-ground or at the altar to do the work for the Lord must use that land. This is the place where they can build houses and where the temple-ground must be. 5The other part of the land, 25 000 cubits long and 10 000 cubits wide, is for the Levites who work at the temple.
6The land where the city must stand must be 5 000 cubits wide and 25 000 cubits long. This land must be next to the holy land and it must belong to all the Israelites.’
The land of the ruler
7‘The ruler must get land on both sides of the holy land and the land for the city, at the western and eastern sides. It must be as big as the land of one of the tribes. This land must be from the western border of the holy land, to the eastern side. 8This is the part of the land_of_Israel that must belong to the ruler so that the rulers will not make my people suffer anymore. They must give all the other land to the tribes of the Israelites.’
9The Lord God says: ‘Rulers of Israel, you must stop doing bad things to people. You must stop oppressing them. You must be fair and do what is right. You must stop taking my people's land for yourselves.’ This is what the Lord God said.
Measuring and weighing
10‘You must be honest when you use balance-scales and when you measure an ephah or a bath. It must be correct. 11You must use the ephah for dry things and the bath for wet things. They must be the same, and 10 ephahs or 10 baths must weigh the same as one homer. You must always use the homer to see what is right. 12One shekel must be the same as 20 gerahs and one mina must be the same as 60 shekels.’
Gifts for the temple
13‘These are the things you must give for the temple: You must give one 6th of an ephah of wheat from each homer of wheat that you get, and you must give one 6th of an ephah of barley from each homer of barley that you get. 14You must give one 10th of a bath of olive oil from each cor of olive oil that you get. There are 10 baths in a homer and in a cor. 15You must give one sheep or goat out of each herd of 200 sheep or goats on the fields of Israel, the fields where there are a lot of water. All of these gifts that you give must be sacrificed as grain-offerings, burnt-offerings and meal-offerings. The priests must use these offerings to make atonement for you and to forgive your sins.’ This is what the Lord God said.
16‘All the people of the land must give these gifts. They must give them to the ruler of Israel. 17The ruler must give these gifts to be burnt-offerings, grain-offerings and drink-offerings. He must give them at the feasts, the New-moon-feasts, the Sabbath days, and on the feasts of the Israelites. He must give these gifts to be sin-offerings, grain-offerings, burnt-offerings and meal-offerings. The priests must take them to make atonement for the Israelites.’
Feasts and offerings
18The Lord God says: ‘On the first day of the first month you must bring a healthy bull. It is the sin-offering. The priests must use the sin-offering to purify the temple-ground. 19The priest must take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the frames of the temple doors, and on the upper rim of the 4 corners of the altar, and on the frames of the doors of the gates to the inner courtyard. 20The priest must do it again on the 7th day of each month. He must do this for people who do not know that they have done wrong, and for people who did not know that the things they did were wrong. This is how you must purify the temple.
21You must celebrate Passover on the 14th day of the first month. On that day and also for the next 7 days you may eat only flat bread. 22The ruler must give a bull on Passover to be a sin-offering for himself and for all the people. 23During the 7 days of the Feast of the flat bread he must give 7 healthy bulls and 7 healthy sheep rams to be burnt-offerings for the Lord. He must also give a goat-ram on each day to be a sin-offering. 24He must also sacrifice an ephah of wheat or barley with each bull and sheep ram, and one hin of olive oil with each ephah of wheat or barley.
25The Feast_of_shelters must start on the 15th day of the 7th month, and then the ruler must give the same offerings every day as he gives on the Feast of the flat bread.’
