The Lord's Sacred Land
The Lord said:
1 When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be 12.5 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide. 2 The temple will be on a piece of land 255 meters square, and the temple will be completely surrounded by an open space 25 meters wide.
3-4 I will give half of my sacred land, a section 12.5 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, to the priests who serve in the temple. Their houses will be in this half, as well as my temple, which is the most sacred place of all.
5 I will give the other half of my land to the Levites who work in my temple, and the towns where they will live will be there.
6 Next to my sacred land will be an area 12.5 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide. This will belong to the people of Israel and will include the city of Jerusalem.
Land for Israel's Ruler
The Lord said:
7-8 The regions west and east of my sacred land and the city of Jerusalem will belong to the ruler of Israel. He will be given the region between the western edge of my land and the Mediterranean Sea, and between the eastern edge of my land and the Jordan River. This will mean that the length of his property will be the same as the sections of land given to the tribes.
This property will belong to every ruler of Israel, so they will always be fair to my people and will let them live peacefully in the land given to their tribes.
Israel's Rulers Must Be Honest
9 The Lord God said:
You leaders of Israel have cheated and abused my people long enough! I want you to stop sinning and start doing what is right and fair. You must never again force my people off their own land. I, the Lord, have spoken.
10 So from now on, you must use honest weights and measures. 11 The ephah will be the standard dry measure, and the bath will be the standard liquid measure. Their size will be based on the homer , which will equal ten ephahs or ten baths .
12 The standard unit of weight will be the shekel . One shekel will equal 20 gerahs , and 60 shekels will equal one mina .
13 Leaders of Israel, the people must bring you one sixtieth of their grain harvests as offerings to me. 14 They will also bring one percent of their olive oil. These things will be measured according to the bath , and ten baths is the same as one homer or one cor . 15 Finally, they must bring one sheep out of every 200 from their flocks.
These offerings will be used as grain sacrifices, as well as sacrifices to please me and those to ask my blessing. I, the Lord, will be pleased with these sacrifices and will forgive the sins of my people.
16 The people of Israel will bring you these offerings. 17 But during New Moon Festivals, Sabbath celebrations, and other religious feasts, you leaders will be responsible for providing animals for the sacrifices, as well as the grain and wine. All these will be used for the sacrifices for sin, the grain sacrifices, the sacrifices to please me, and those to ask my blessing. I will be pleased and will forgive the sins of my people.
The Festivals
(Exodus 12.1-20Leviticus 23.33-43)18 The Lord God said:
On the first day of the first month, a young bull that has nothing wrong with it must be offered as a sacrifice to purify the temple. 19 The priest will take some blood from this sacrifice and smear it on the doorposts of the temple, as well as on the four corners of the altar and on the doorposts of the gates that lead into the inner courtyard.
20 The same ceremony must also be done on the seventh day of the month, so that anyone who sins accidentally or without knowing it will be forgiven, and so that my temple will remain holy.
21 Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, and continuing for seven days, everyone will celebrate Passover and eat bread made without yeast. 22 On the first day, the ruler will bring a bull to offer as a sacrifice for his sins and for the sins of the people. 23 Each day of the festival he is to bring seven bulls and seven rams as sacrifices to please me, and he must bring a goat as a sacrifice for sin. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. 24 He will also provide nine kilograms of grain and three liters of olive oil to be offered with each bull and each ram.
25 The Festival of Shelters will begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and will continue for seven days. On each day of this festival, the ruler will provide the same number of animals that he did each day during Passover, as well as the same amount of grain and olive oil for the sacrifices.
1 Moreover when yee shall deuide the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation vnto the Lord an holy portion of the land, fiue and twentie thousand reedes long, and ten thousand broad: this shalbe holy in all the borders thereof round about. 2 Of this there shalbe for the Sanctuarie fiue hundreth in length with fiue hundreth in breadth, all square round about, and fiftie cubites rounde about for the suburbes thereof. 3 And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of fiue and twentie thousande, and the breadth of tenne thousande: and in it shalbe the Sanctuarie, and the most holy place. 4 The holy portion of the lande shalbe the Priests, which minister in the Sanctuarie, which came neere to serue the Lord: and it shalbe a place for their houses, and an holy place for the Sanctuarie. 5 And in the fiue and twentie thousande of length, and the ten thousand of breadth shall the Leuites that minister in the house, haue their possession for twentie chambers. 6 Also ye shall appoynt the possession of the citie, fiue thousand broad, and fiue and twentie thousand log ouer against the oblation of ye holy portion: it shalbe for the whole house of Israel. 7 And a portion shalbe for the prince on ye one side, and on that side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the citie, euen before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the citie from the West corner Westward, and from the East corner Eastward, and the length shalbe by one of the portions from the West border vnto the East border. 8 In this lande shalbe his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppresse my people, and the rest of the land shall they giue to ye house of Israel, according to their tribes. 9 Thus saith the Lord God, Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: leaue off crueltie and oppression, and execute iudgment and iustice: take away your exactions from my people, sayth the Lord God. 10 Ye shall haue iust balances, and a true Ephah, and a true Bath. 11 The Ephah and the Bath shalbe equall: a Bath shall conteyne the tenth part of an Homer, and an Ephah the tenth part of an Homer: the equalitie thereof shalbe after the Homer. 12 And the shekel shalbe twentie gerahs, and twentie shekels, and fiue and twentie shekels and fifteene shekels shalbe your Maneh. 13 This is the oblation that ye shall offer, ye sixt part of an Ephah of an Homer of wheat, and ye shall giue the sixt part of an Ephah of an Homer of barley. 14 Concerning ye ordinance of the oyle, euen of the Bath of oyle, ye shall offer the tenth part of a Bath out of ye Cor (ten Baths are an Homer: for ten Baths fill an Homer) 15 And one lambe of two hundreth sheepe out of ye fat pastures of Israel for a meat offring, and for a burnt offring and for peace offrings, to make reconciliation for them, sayth the Lord God. 16 All the people of the lande shall giue this oblation for the prince in Israel. 17 And it shalbe ye princes part to giue burnt offrings, and meat offrings, and drinke offrings in the solemne feasts and in the newe moones, and in the Sabbaths, and in all the hie feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sinne offring, and the meat offring, and the burnt offring, and the peace offrings to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. 18 Thus sayth the Lord God, In the first moneth, in the first day of the moneth, thou shalt take a yong bullocke without blemish and clense the Sanctuarie. 19 And the Priest shall take of the blood of the sinne offring, and put it vpon the posts of the house, and vpon the foure corners of the frame of the altar, and vpon the postes of the gate of the inner court. 20 And so shalt thou doe the seuenth day of the moneth, for euery one that hath erred and for him that is deceiued: so shall you reconcile the house. 21 In the first moneth in the foureteenth day of the moneth, ye shall haue the Passeouer, a feast of seuen dayes, and ye shall eate vnleauened bread. 22 And vpon that day, shall the prince prepare for him selfe, and for all the people of the lande, a bullocke for a sinne offring. 23 And in the seuen dayes of the feast he shall make a burnt offring to the Lord, euen of seuen bullockes, and seuen rammes without blemish dayly for seuen dayes, and an hee goate dayly for a sinne offring. 24 And he shall prepare a meate offring of an Ephah for a bullocke, an Ephah for a ramme, and an Hin of oyle for an Ephah. 25 In the seuenth moneth, in the fifteenth day of the moneth, shall he do the like in the feast for seuen dayes, according to the sinne offring, according to the burnt offring, and according to the meate offring, and according to the oyle.