To The Word – Day 199

₁The Sovereign LORD says, “The east gateway to the inner courtyard must be kept closed during the six working days, but it is to be opened on the Sabbath and at the New Moon Festival. ₂The ruling prince will go from the outer courtyard into the entrance room by the gateway and stand beside the posts of the gate while the priests burn his sacrifices whole and offer his fellowship offerings. There at the gate he must worship and then go out again. The gate must not be shut until evening. ₃Each Sabbath and each New Moon Festival all the people are also to bow down and worship the LORD in front of the gate.

₄“On the Sabbath the prince is to bring to the LORD, as sacrifices to be burnt whole, six lambs and one ram, all without any defects. ₅With each ram he is to bring an offering of 17.5 litres of corn, and with each lamb he is to bring whatever he wants to give. For each such grain offering he is to bring three litres of olive oil. ₆At the New Moon Festival he will offer a young bull, six lambs, and a ram, all without any defects. ₇With each bull and each ram the offering is to be 17.5 litres of corn, and with each lamb the offering is to be whatever the prince wants to give. Three litres of olive oil are to be offered with each such grain offering of corn. ₈The prince must leave the entrance room of the gateway and go out by the same way as he went in.

₉“When the people come to worship the LORD at any festival, those who enter by the north gate are to leave by the south gate after they have worshipped, and those who enter by the south gate are to leave by the north gate. No one may go out by the same way as he entered, but must leave by the opposite gate. ₁₀The prince is to come in when the people come, and leave when they leave. ₁₁On the feast days and at the festivals the grain offering will be 17.5 litres with each bull or ram, and whatever the worshipper wants to give with each lamb. Three litres of olive oil are to be offered with each such grain offering.

₁₂“When the ruling prince wants to make a voluntary offering to the LORD, either an offering to be burnt whole or a fellowship offering, the east gate to the inner courtyard will be opened for him. He is to make the offering in the same way as he does on the Sabbath, and the gate is to be closed after he goes out again.”

₁₃The LORD says, “Every morning a one-year-old lamb without any defects is to be burnt whole as an offering to the LORD. This offering must be made every day. ₁₄Also an offering of two kilogrammes of flour is to be made every morning, together with one litre of olive oil for mixing with the flour. The rules for this offering to the LORD are to be in force for ever. ₁₅The lamb, the flour, and the olive oil are to be offered to the LORD every morning for ever.”

₁₆The Sovereign LORD commands: “If the ruling prince gives any of the land he owns to one of his sons as a present, it will belong to that son as a part of his family property. ₁₇But if the ruling prince gives any of his land to anyone who is in his service, it will become the prince's property again when the Year of Restoration comes round. It belongs to him, and only he and his sons can own it permanently. ₁₈The ruling prince must not take any of the people's property away from them. Any land he gives to his sons must be from the land that is assigned to him, so that he will not oppress any of my people by taking their land.”

₁₉Then the man took me to the entrance of the rooms facing north near the gate on the south side of the inner courtyard. These are holy rooms for the priests. He pointed out a place on the west side of the rooms ₂₀and said, “This is the place where the priests are to boil the meat offered as sacrifices for sin or as repayment offerings, and to bake the offerings of flour, so that nothing holy is carried to the outer courtyard, where it might harm the people.”

_21-22Then he led me to the outer courtyard and showed me that in each of its four corners there was a smaller courtyard, twenty metres long and fifteen metres wide. ₂₃Each one had a stone wall round it, with fireplaces built against the wall. ₂₄The man told me, “These are the kitchens where the temple servants are to boil the sacrifices the people offer.”

₁The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the temple past the south side of the altar. ₂The man then took me out of the temple area by way of the north gate and led me round to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate. ₃With his measuring rod the man measured 500 metres downstream to the east and told me to wade through the stream there. The water came only to my ankles. ₄Then he measured another 500 metres, and the water came up to my knees. Another 500 metres further down, the water was up to my waist. ₅He measured 500 metres more, and there the stream was so deep I could not wade through it. It was too deep to cross except by swimming. ₆He said to me, “Mortal man, note all this carefully.”

Then the man took me back to the bank of the river, ₇and when I got there I saw that there were very many trees on each bank. ₈He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water. ₉Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life. ₁₀From the Springs of Engedi all the way to the Springs of Eneglaim, there will be fishermen on the shore of the sea, and they will spread out their nets there to dry. There will be as many different kinds of fish there as there are in the Mediterranean Sea. ₁₁But the water in the marshes and ponds along the shore will not be made fresh. They will remain there as a source of salt. ₁₂On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”

₁₃The Sovereign LORD said, “These are the boundaries of the land that is to be divided among the twelve tribes, with the tribe of Joseph receiving two sections. ₁₄I solemnly promised your ancestors that I would give them possession of this land; now divide it equally among you.

₁₅“The northern boundary runs eastwards from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon, to Hamath Pass, to the city of Zedad, ₁₆to the cities of Berothah and Sibraim (they are located between the territory of the kingdom of Damascus and that of the kingdom of Hamath), and to the city of Ticon (located by the border of the district of Hauran). ₁₇So the northern boundary runs from the Mediterranean eastwards to the city of Enon, with the border regions of Damascus and Hamath to the north of it.

₁₈“The eastern boundary runs south from a point between the territory of Damascus and that of Hauran, with the River Jordan forming the boundary between the land of Israel on the west and Gilead on the east, as far as Tamar on the Dead Sea.

₁₉“The southern boundary runs south-west from Tamar to the oasis of Kadesh Meribah, and then north-west along the Egyptian border to the Mediterranean Sea.

₂₀“The western boundary is formed by the Mediterranean and runs north to a point west of Hamath Pass.

₂₁“Divide this land among your tribes; ₂₂it is to be your permanent possession. The foreigners who are living among you and who have had children born here are also to receive their share of the land when you divide it. They are to be treated like full Israelite citizens and are to draw lots for shares of the land along with the tribes of Israel. ₂₃Foreign residents will receive their share with the people of the tribe among whom they are living. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.”

_1-7The northern boundary of the land runs eastwards from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon, to Hamath Pass, to the city of Enon, to the boundary between the kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath. Each tribe is to receive one section of land extending from the eastern boundary westwards to the Mediterranean Sea, in the following order from north to south:

₈The next section of the land is to be set apart for special use. It is to be 12.5 kilometres wide from north to south, and the same length from east to west as the sections given to the tribes. The Temple will be in this section.

₉In the centre of this section, a special area 12.5 kilometres by ten kilometres is to be dedicated to the LORD. ₁₀The priests are to have a portion of this holy area. From east to west their portion is to measure 12.5 kilometres, and from north to south, five kilometres. The Temple of the LORD is to be in the middle of this area. ₁₁This holy area is to be for the priests who are descendants of Zadok. They served me faithfully and did not join the rest of the Israelites in doing wrong, as the other members of the tribe of Levi did. ₁₂So they are to have a special area next to the area belonging to the Levites, and it will be the holiest of all. ₁₃The Levites also are to have a special area, south of that of the priests. It too is to be 12.5 kilometres from east to west, by five kilometres from north to south. ₁₄The area dedicated to the LORD is the best part of all the land, and none of it may be sold or exchanged or transferred to anyone else. It is holy and belongs to the LORD.

₁₅The part of the special area that is left, 12.5 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres, is not holy, but is for the general use of the people. They may live there and use the land. The city is to be in the centre of it, ₁₆and it will be a square, measuring 2,250 metres on each side. ₁₇All round the city on each side there will be an open space 125 metres across. ₁₈The land that is left after the city has been built in the area immediately to the south of the holy area — five kilometres by 2.5 kilometres on the east and five kilometres by 2.5 kilometres on the west — is to be used as farm land by the people who live in the city. ₁₉Anyone who lives in the city, no matter which tribe he comes from, may farm that land.

₂₀And so the total area in the centre of the section which was set apart will be a square measuring 12.5 kilometres on each side, and it will include the area occupied by the city.

_21-22To the east and to the west of this area which contains the Temple, the priests' land, the Levites' land, and the city, the remaining land belongs to the ruling prince. It extends eastwards to the eastern boundary and westwards to the Mediterranean Sea, and is bounded on the north by the section belonging to Judah and on the south by the section belonging to Benjamin.

_23-27South of this special section, each of the remaining tribes is to receive one section of land running from the eastern boundary westwards to the Mediterranean Sea, in the following order from north to south:

₂₈On the south side of the portion given to the tribe of Gad, the boundary runs south-west from Tamar to the oasis of Kadesh, and then north-west along the Egyptian border to the Mediterranean Sea.

₂₉The Sovereign LORD said, “That is the way the land is to be divided into sections for the tribes of Israel to possess.”

_30-34There are twelve entrances to the city of Jerusalem. Each of the four walls measures 2,250 metres and has three gates in it, each named after one of the tribes. The gates in the north wall are named after Reuben, Judah, and Levi; those in the east wall, after Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; those in the south wall, after Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun; and those in the west wall are named after Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. ₃₅The total length of the wall on all four sides of the city is 9,000 metres. The name of the city from now on will be, “The-LORD-is-Here!”