Boundaries of the land for the tribes
48
📚“Now these are the names of the tribes: From the northern border along the road to Hethlon, as one goes to Hamath, Hazarenan, the northern border of Damascus, to the boundary with Hamath; these are his sides east and west, a portion for Dan. 2 📚“And along the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Asher.
3 📚“And along the border of Asher, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4 📚“And along the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Manasseh.
5 📚“And along the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Ephraim.
6 📚“And along the border of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Reuben.
7 📚“And along the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Judah.
8 📚“And along the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the district you will set apart as a gift, twenty-five thousand rods wide, and as long as any of the other portions from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary will be in the middle of it.
9 “The district you set apart as a gift to the LORD will be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. 10 📚And this holy portion will be for the priests. It will be twenty-five thousand cubits long on the north, and ten thousand wide on the west, and ten thousand wide on the east, twenty-five thousand long on the south; and the sanctuary of the LORD will be in the center of it. 11 📚It will be for the priests who are set apart from the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12 📚And this portion of the land that is offered as a gift for them will be a most holy place along the border of the Levites.
13 📚“And opposite the border of the priests the Levites will have a portion twenty-five thousand cubits long, and ten thousand wide. The entire length will be twenty-five thousand, and the width ten thousand. 14 📚And they shall not sell or exchange any of it, or make this best part of the land over to others, for it is holy to the LORD.
48:14 Indeed God’s priests must not sell or barter anything that belongs to God Himself.⚜
15 📚“And the five thousand cubits in width that are left along the twenty-five thousand, will be for the common use of the city, for dwellings and open land; and the city will be in the center of it. 16 📚And these are its measurements: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, and the south side four thousand five hundred, and the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred.
17 And the open land of the city will be two hundred and fifty cubits on the north, and two hundred and fifty on the south, and two hundred and fifty on the east, and two hundred and fifty on the west. 18 📚And the rest of the length along the holy portion set apart as a gift will be ten thousand on the east, and ten thousand on the west; and it will be alongside the holy portion set apart as a gift. And its crops will be for food for those who serve the city. 19 📚And those who serve the city, from all the tribes of Israel, will cultivate it. 20 📚The complete portion set apart as a gift will be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits. You shall set apart this holy portion, along with the property of the city.
21 📚“And the rest of it will be for the prince; this area on the one side and on the other of the holy portion, and of the property of the city, from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the contributed portion to the eastern border, and on the west from the twenty-five thousand to the western border, along the tribal portions will be for the prince. It will be the holy portion; and the sanctuary of the temple will be in the center of it. 22 Moreover, apart from the property of the Levites, and apart from the property of the city, which is in the center of that which belongs to the prince, the land between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, will be for the prince.
48:8-22 Ezek 45:1-8 is here given in more detail.⚜
23 📚“As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin will have one portion.
24 📚“And along the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon will have one portion.
25 📚“And along the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar one portion.
26 📚“And along the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun one portion.
27 📚“And along the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad one portion.
48:25-27 Under Joshua the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun were allotted territories in the northern part of Israel, and Gad was east of the Jordan River.⚜
28 📚“And along the southern border of Gad, the border will go toward the south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, and to the river of Egypt to the great sea 📖.
29 📚“This is the land which you will divide by lot to the tribes of Israel as their inheritance, and these are their portions, says the Lord God.
The city’s gates and God’s presence
30 📚“And these will be the exits of the city: from the north side, which measures four thousand five hundred cubits, 31 📚the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. There will be three gates on the north; one gate named for Reuben, one gate for Judah, one gate for Levi”. 32 And on the eastern side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits, will be three gates; one gate named for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, one gate for Dan.
33 “And on the southern side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits, will be three gates; one gate named for Simeon, one gate for Issachar, one gate for Zebulun.
34 “On the western side, four thousand five hundred cubits, with their three gates; one gate named for Gad, one gate for Asher, one gate for Naphtali.
48:30-34 Rev 21:12-13. The arrangement of these names is quite different from the arrangement of the tribes surrounding the tabernacle in the wilderness (Num 2:3-31). Levi is included in the names here (v 31), so to keep the number at twelve Joseph has one gate representing the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim.⚜
35 📚“The total distance around will be eighteen thousand cubits. “And the name of the city from that day will be, The LORD is There”.