Study Desk

Then he said to me, "These are the cooking places where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people."

This is what the Lord GOD says: "This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions.

"And you shall divide it for an inheritance, each one equally with the other; for I swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.

"And this shall be the boundary of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;

"The boundary shall extend from the sea to Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, and on the north toward the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

"The east side, from between Hauran, Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side.

"The south side toward the south shall extend from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt and to the Great Sea. This is the south side toward the south.

"And the west side shall be the Great Sea, from the south border to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This is the west side.

"So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

"You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the strangers who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

"And in the tribe with which the stranger resides, there you shall give him his inheritance," declares the Lord GOD.

"And beside the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the allotment which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length like one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.

"The allotment that you shall set apart to the LORD shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width.

"The holy allotment shall be for these, namely for the priests, 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 the LORD shall be in its midst.

"It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have taken the responsibility I gave them, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray.

"It shall be an allotment to them from the allotment of the land, a most holy reserve, by the border of the Levites.

"And alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. The entire length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the width ten thousand.

"Moreover, they shall not sell or exchange any of it, or allow this choice portion of land to pass to others; for it is holy to the LORD.

"The remainder, five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for common use for the city, for homes and for open spaces; and the city shall be in its midst.

"And these shall be its measurements: the north side, 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side, 4,500 cubits.