The River of Renewal and the Inheritance of Hope
Ezekiel 46
1 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
2 The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate from outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
3 The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.
4 The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day six lambs without defect and a ram without defect;
5 and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
6 On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without defect, six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without defect.
7 He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bull, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according to his ability, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
8 When the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go out by its way.
9 “‘But when the people of the land shall come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go out straight before him.
10 The prince shall go in among them when they go in; and when they go out, he shall go out.
11 In the feasts and in the appointed feasts the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
12 When the prince prepares a freewill offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the gate.
13 “‘You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Every morning you shall prepare it.
14 You shall prepare a meal offering with it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance.
15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.’
16 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.
17 But if he gives a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. But as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons.
18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not be scattered every man from his possession.”’”
19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north. Behold, there was a place on the western side.
20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.”
21 Then he brought me out into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.
22 In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide. These four in the corners were of one measure.
23 There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around.
24 Then he said to me, “These are the boiling houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.”
Ezekiel 47
1 He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the front of the house faced east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.
2 Then he brought me out by the way of the north gate, and led me around by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks eastward; and behold, waters ran out on the right side.
3 When the man went out eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.
4 Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through waters that were to the waist.
5 Afterward he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.
6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
8 Then he said to me, “These waters flow out toward the eastern region, and go down into the Arabah. Then they go toward the sea, and flow into the sea; and the waters will be healed.
9 It will happen that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river comes.
10 It will happen that fishermen will stand by it. From En Gedi even to En Eglaim will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many.
11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed. They will be given up to salt.
12 By the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, will grow every tree for food, whose leaf will not wither, neither will its fruit fail. It will produce new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary. Its fruit will be for food, and its leaves for healing.”
13 The Lord Yahweh says: “This shall be the border by which you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions.
14 You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your fathers. This land will fall to you for inheritance.
15 “‘This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer Hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.
17 The border from the sea shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
18 “‘On the east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the east sea you shall measure. This is the east side.
19 “‘The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea. This is the south side southward.
20 “‘The west side also shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as opposite the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.
21 “‘So you shall divide this land to yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.
22 You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you and to the foreigners who live among you, who shall father children among you. They shall be to you as the native-born among the children of Israel. They shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23 It shall happen that in whatever tribe the foreigner lives, there you shall give him his inheritance,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 48
1 “Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus northward, beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east and west,) Dan, one portion.
2 By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion.
3 By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one portion.
4 By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one portion.
5 By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion.
6 By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one portion.
7 By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion.
8 By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side. The sanctuary shall be in its middle.
9 The offering that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width.
10 For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand cubits in length, toward the west ten thousand in width, toward the east ten thousand in width, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length; and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its middle.
11 It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction, who didn’t go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
12 It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.
13 Corresponding to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have a portion twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and ten thousand in width. Its whole length shall be twenty-five thousand, and its width ten thousand.
14 They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to Yahweh.
15 The five thousand cubits that are left in the width, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for pasture. The city shall be in its middle.
16 These shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred.
17 The city shall have pasture land: on the north two hundred fifty cubits, on the south two hundred fifty, on the east two hundred fifty, and on the west two hundred fifty.
18 The remainder in the length, alongside the holy offering, shall be ten thousand cubits toward the east and ten thousand toward the west. It shall be alongside the holy offering; and its increase shall be for food for those who work in the city.
19 Those who work in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it.
20 All the offering shall be twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand. You shall offer the holy offering square, with the possession of the city.
21 The remainder shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the twenty-five thousand cubits of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, corresponding to the portions, it shall be for the prince. The holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its middle.
22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the middle of that which belongs to the prince, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the prince.
23 “‘As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one portion.
24 By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one portion.
25 By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one portion.
26 By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one portion.
27 By the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one portion.
28 By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea.
29 This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions,” says the Lord Yahweh.
30 “‘These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand five hundred cubits by measure;
31 and the gates of the city shall be named after the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.
32 At the east side four thousand five hundred cubits, and three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.
33 At the south side four thousand five hundred cubits by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.
34 At the west side four thousand five hundred cubits, with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.
35 It shall be eighteen thousand cubits around. The name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.”’”
Scripture: World English Bible Classic (WEB), a public-domain translation. Available for free copying and sharing at eBible.org.
