Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal before the Lord; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way."

This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary.

"'But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible for their sin.

They will not come near me to serve me as priest, nor will they come near any of my holy things, the things which are most sacred. They will bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have committed.

Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all of its service and all that will be done in it.

"'But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

They will enter my sanctuary, and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge.

Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean.

"'In a controversy they will act as judges; they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe my Sabbaths.

"'They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves.

"'This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property.

They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

The first of all the first fruits and all contributions of any kind will be for the priests; you will also give to the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house.

The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal.

"'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. This entire area will be holy.

Of this area a square 875 feet by 875 feet will be designated for the sanctuary, with 87? feet set aside for its open space round about.

From this measured area you will measure a length of eight and a quarter miles and a width of three and one-third miles; in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place.

It will be a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who approach the Lord to minister to him. It will be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

An area eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live.

"'Alongside the portion set apart as the holy allotment, you will allot for the city an area one and two-thirds miles wide and eight and a quarter miles long; it will be for the whole house of Israel.

"'For the prince there will be land on both sides of the holy allotment and the allotted city, alongside the holy allotment and the allotted city, on the west side and on the east side; it will be comparable in length to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border

of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

The dry and liquid measures will be the same, the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure.

The shekel will be twenty gerahs. Sixty shekels will be a mina for you.

All the people of the land will contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel.

It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at festivals, on the new moons and Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and place it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorpost of the gate of the inner court.

This is what you must do on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins inadvertently or through ignorance; so you will make atonement for the temple.

"'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will celebrate the Passover, and for seven days bread made without yeast will be eaten.

On that day the prince will provide for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

And during the seven days of the feast he will provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams, all without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

He will provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a gallon of olive oil for each ephah of grain.

In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he will make the same provisions for the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering, and for the olive oil, for the seven days.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court that faces east will be closed six working days, but on the Sabbath day it will be opened and on the day of the new moon it will be opened.

The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand by the doorpost of the gate. The priests will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will bow down at the threshold of the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be closed until evening.

The people of the land will bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

The burnt offering which the prince will offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day will be six unblemished lambs and one unblemished ram.

The grain offering will be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs will be as much as he is able to give, and a gallon of olive oil with an ephah.

On the day of the new moon he will offer an unblemished young bull, and six lambs and a ram, all without blemish.

He will provide a grain offering: an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he wishes, and a gallon of olive oil with each ephah of grain.

When the prince enters, he will come by way of the porch of the gate and will go out the same way.

"'When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship will go out by way of the south gate; whoever enters by way of the south gate will go out by way of the north gate. No one will return by way of the gate they entered but will go out straight ahead.

When they come in, the prince will come in with them, and when they go out, he will go out.

"'At the festivals and at the appointed feasts the grain offering will be an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able, and a gallon of olive oil with each ephah of grain.

When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a voluntary offering to the Lord, the gate facing east will be opened for him, and he will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings just as he did on the Sabbath. Then he will go out, and the gate will be closed after he goes out.

"'You will provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering daily to the Lord; morning by morning he will provide it.

And you will provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the choice flour, as a grain offering to the Lord; this is a perpetual statute.

Thus they will provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil morning by morning, as a perpetual burnt offering.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: If the prince should give a gift to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to his sons, it is their property by inheritance.

But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will be his until the year of liberty; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance will only remain with his sons.

The prince will not take away any of the people's inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.'"

He said to me, "This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people."

Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows.

Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea.

But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty.

On both sides of the river's banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

This is what the sovereign Lord says: "Here are the borders you will observe as you allot the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.)

You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; this land will be assigned as your inheritance.

"This will be the border of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to the entrance of Zedad;

The border will run from the sea to Hazar-enan, at the border of Damascus, and on the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

On the east side, between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, will be the Jordan. You will measure from the border to the eastern sea. This is the east side.

On the south side it will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, the river, to the Great Sea. This is the south side.

On the west side the Great Sea will be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This is the west side.

"This is how you will divide this land for yourselves among the tribes of Israel.

You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

In whatever tribe the foreigner resides, there you will give him his inheritance," declares the sovereign Lord.

"These are the names of the tribes: From the northern end beside the road of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan (which is on the border of Damascus, toward the north beside Hamath), extending from the east side to the west, Dan will have one portion.

Next to the border of Dan, from the east side to the west, Asher will have one portion.

Next to the border of Asher from the east side to the west, Naphtali will have one portion.

Next to the border of Naphtali from the east side to the west, Manasseh will have one portion.

Next to the border of Manasseh from the east side to the west, Ephraim will have one portion.

Next to the border of Ephraim from the east side to the west, Reuben will have one portion.

Next to the border of Reuben from the east side to the west, Judah will have one portion.

"Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it.

The allotment you set apart to the Lord will be eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width.

These will be the allotments for the holy portion: for the priests, toward the north eight and a quarter miles in length, toward the west three and one-third miles in width, toward the east three and one-third miles in width, and toward the south eight and a quarter miles in length; the sanctuary of the Lord will be in the middle.

This will be for the priests who are set apart from the descendants of Zadok who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel strayed off, like the Levites did.

It will be their portion from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, next to the border of the Levites.

"Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. The whole length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles.

"The remainder, one and two-thirds miles in width and eight and a quarter miles in length, will be for common use by the city, for houses and for open space. The city will be in the middle of it;

these will be its measurements: The north side will be one and one-half miles, the south side one and one-half miles, the east side one and one-half miles, and the west side one and one-half miles.

The city will have open spaces: On the north there will be 437? feet, on the south 437? feet, on the east 437? feet, and on the west 437? feet.

The remainder of the length alongside the holy allotment will be three and one-third miles to the east and three and one-third miles toward the west, and it will be beside the holy allotment. Its produce will be for food for the workers of the city.

The workers of the city from all the tribes of Israel will cultivate it.

The whole allotment will be eight and a quarter miles square, you must set apart the holy allotment with the possession of the city.

"The rest, on both sides of the holy allotment and the property of the city, will belong to the prince. Extending from the eight and a quarter miles of the holy allotment to the east border, and westward from the eight and a quarter miles to the west border, alongside the portions, it will belong to the prince. The holy allotment and the sanctuary of the temple will be in the middle of it.

The property of the Levites and of the city will be in the middle of that which belongs to the prince. The portion between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin will be for the prince.

"As for the rest of the tribes: From the east side to the west side, Benjamin will have one portion.

Next to the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon will have one portion.

Next to the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar will have one portion.

Next to the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun will have one portion.

Next to the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad will have one portion.

Next to the border of Gad, at the south side, the border will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the Stream of Egypt and on to the Great Sea.

This is the land which you will allot to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the sovereign Lord.

the gates of the city will be named for the tribes of Israel; there will be three gates to the north: one gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, and one gate for Levi.

On the east side, one and one-half miles in length, there will be three gates: one gate for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, and one gate for Dan.