Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:12

And it shall belong to them as a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place: God stresses that the priests’ land will be very holy, because their portion will be part of the sacred portion set apart for him (see Ezek 48.9). It will be a most holy place, because the Temple compound will be within it. New Century Version renders this clause as “They will have as their share a very holy part of the holy portion of the land.”

The priests’ land will be adjoining the territory of the Levites, that is, it will be “next to the land of the Levites” (New Century Version). The phrase here in Hebrew does not indicate whether it will be to the north or the south of the Levites’ land, so we cannot be sure that Contemporary English Version is correct by saying it “will lie south of the area that belongs to the Levites” (see the comments on verse 10).

A model for this verse is:

• It will be a special gift to them because it will be a part of the land given to me [God], the most sacred area [or, the most important area reserved for me]. It will be next to the territory of the Levites.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:13

And alongside the territory of the priests: This phrase repeats the sense of the last phrase of the previous verse. If such repetition is not clumsy and unnatural, translators will do well to retain it.

The Levites shall have an allotment twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in breadth: The Levites’ land will be the same size as the priests’ land (see verse 10).

The whole length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the breadth twenty thousand: There are some problems here. If The whole length refers to the Levites’ land, why has God repeated the information from the previous sentence? Some translations simply omit this sentence (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version). However, some translations have taken The whole length to refer to the Levites’ and the priests’ land combined (so New Living Translation with “Together these portions of land”). Translations that do this then follow the Septuagint and read twenty thousand in breadth, so that the measurements agree with the previous figures. The Hebrew text has “the breadth [will be] ten thousand [cubits].” The Septuagint gives a possible reading here, even though Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends against it because it involves changing the Hebrew. And it becomes the preferred reading if verse 14 also refers to both sections of land. However, if verse 14 refers to the Levites’ land only, the reference to the whole section of land at the end of this verse is quite out of context. Translators may follow either of these readings, so possible models for this sentence are “The size of both sections of the holy land combined will be 12.5 kilometers long by 10 kilometers wide” and “The size of the [Levites’] land will be 12.5 kilometers long by 5 kilometers wide.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:14

They shall not sell or exchange any of it: Depending on the decision made in verse 13, the pronoun it refers either to the land allocated to the Levites, or to both sections of the holy land. This land is always to remain the property of the Levites in the one instance, or the Levites and the priests in the other. So the pronoun they can refer either to the Levites, or to the priests and Levites. Sell means to give something to someone else for money, and exchange implies giving something to another and getting something else in return that is not money.

They shall not alienate this choice portion of the land: Alienate is to cause something to be owned by someone else with no reference to whether one gets anything in return. Good News Translation renders they shall not alienate as “none of it may be … transferred to someone else,” and New Century Version says “They are not to let anyone else own.” This choice portion of the land means it is “special land” (New Living Translation), “the best part of all the land” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, New King James Version , Revised English Bible, New American Bible). Many languages will refer to it as “number one land.”

For it is holy to the LORD: It is not the “best” land because it is especially fertile or is good land for gardens and produces good crops, but “because it belongs to the LORD” (New Century Version; compare verses 9-12).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:15

The remainder, five thousand cubits in breadth and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for ordinary use for the city, for dwellings and for open country: See 45.6. Next to the Levites’ land will be an “additional strip of land” (New Living Translation). This strip of land will be five thousand cubits in breadth and twenty-five thousand in length, that is, about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) wide and 12.5 kilometers (8 miles) long. Together with the priests’ and Levites’ land, this land makes a perfect square of 12.5 kilometers on each side. God refers to this strip of land as The remainder (compare New Century Version “The rest of the area” and Good News Translation “The part of the special area that is left”), as if he had already mentioned the square of holy land, even though he has not. This additional strip of land will be for ordinary use, that is, it will not be holy like the territory of the priests and the Levites. It will be “for the general use of the people” (Good News Translation), it will “belong to the people of Israel” (Contemporary English Version). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “for common use” (similarly New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), and New Living Translation has “for public use.” It will be for the city, for dwellings and for open country, that is, in that area will be a city (identified by Contemporary English Version and New International Reader’s Version as “Jerusalem”), places for people to live, and open space around the city. Block suggests that the city will be the place where pilgrims from outlying territories who come to the Temple to worship will live while they are there, and the open country around it is where the food for the worshipers will be grown. The Hebrew word for open country normally refers to the common gardens and pasturelands around a village or town.

In the midst of it shall be the city means the city will be “inside” (Complete Jewish Bible), “in the middle of” (New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “in the center of” (Good News Translation, New International Version) the additional strip of land.

A model for this verse is:

• The rest of that special area will be for all the people of the city to use. It will be 2.5 kilometers wide and 12.5 kilometers long. It will be used for homes and for pasture, and the city will be there in the middle.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:16 - 48:17

And these shall be its dimensions …: Verses 16-17 describe how big the city will be.

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: God describes the city in the same long way that he described the priests’ allocation, noting the length of each of the four sides (see verse 10). The city itself will be four thousand five hundred cubits, that is, about 2,250 meters (2,500 yards), on each side.

And the city shall have open land: On each side of the city there will be open land, which renders the same Hebrew word translated “open country” in verse 15 (see the comments there).

On the north two hundred and fifty cubits, on the south two hundred and fifty, on the east two hundred and fifty, and on the west two hundred and fifty: The “open space” (Good News Translation) around the city will be two hundred and fifty cubits, that is, about 125 meters (140 yards), wide on each side. In all, the city and the surrounding open space will result in a square 2.5 kilometers by 2.5 kilometers. The city will cover the full width of the additional strip of land.

A model for verses 16-17 is:

• 16 The city will be 2,250 meters on each side, 17 with an open space 125 meters wide all the way around the outside.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:18 - 48:19

The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be ten thousand cubits to the east, and ten thousand to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion: The city will take up 5,000 cubits of the length of the additional strip of land that will border on the holy land of the priests and the Levites. The total length of that land will be 25,000 cubits (see verse 15). The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion refers to the 20,000 cubits left after deducting the 5,000 cubits of the city. Since the city will be in the center of this land, there will be ten thousand cubits to the east, and ten thousand to the west of the city. Ten thousand cubits is equivalent to about 5 kilometers (3 miles). These two tracts of land will be alongside the holy portion, that is, on the southern border of the holy area. Although the text repeats the information about these tracts bordering on the holy area, translators may omit one of the references if that is more natural in their language.

Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city: The two tracts of land will “be used as farmland” (Good News Translation). Its produce refers to the food that will be grown on this land. It will be food for the workers of the city. These workers may be the people who will work in Jerusalem to look after the pilgrims who come to worship at the Temple. Since each tribe will have its own land, it is unlikely that anybody will live permanently in Jerusalem.

And the workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall till it: The city workers will come from all the tribes of Israel (see 37.19) and live there for short periods, serving the needs of the pilgrim worshipers. Possibly the different tribes will take turns sending some of their people to work in Jerusalem for short periods at a time. It is these short-term residents of Jerusalem who will till it, that is, “farm the land” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, Complete Jewish Bible).

A model for verses 18-19 is:

• 18 Along the portion of land set aside for me [the LORD] there will remain a strip of land that will extend 5 kilometers to the east of the city and 5 kilometers to the west of the city. This land should be used to grow food for the people who work in the city. 19 These workers who will come from all the tribes of Israel can farm this land [or, grow food here for themselves].

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:20

The whole portion which you shall set apart shall be twenty-five thousand cubits square …: This verse summarizes verses 8-19. The whole portion which you shall set apart includes the holy portion, that is, the sections allocated to the priests and the Levites (see verses 9-14) and the property of the city, that is, the additional strip of land where the city will be located. The dimensions of this whole area will be twenty five thousand cubits square, that is, about 12.5 kilometers (8 miles) square. For set apart, which means dedicate to God, see verse 8 for the holy portion, see verse 10.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 48:21 - 48:22

What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince: In verses 21-22 God describes the rest of the section of land described in verse 8. Like the allocations to each of the tribes, this section of land will stretch from the western border of Israel to its eastern border. What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city refers to the areas to the east and west of the land for the priests, the Levites, and the city (for the holy portion, see verse 10). These areas will belong to the prince, that is, the king of Israel (see the comments on 44.3).

God describes these areas as Extending from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the holy portion to the east border, and westward from the twenty-five thousand cubits to the west border, that is, they will stretch from the edge of the holy area to the eastern and western borders of the country respectively. The reference to the twenty-five thousand cubits (which is equivalent to about 12.5 kilometers [8 miles]) is just a different way of referring to the holy section God has just been describing. These areas will be parallel to the tribal portions, that is, they will run alongside and follow the boundaries of the territories allocated to the two tribes that are next to the special area, namely, the territory of Judah to the north (see Ezek 48.8) and the territory of Benjamin to the south (see verse 23). Thus the king’s land will lie between the lands of those two tribes. The holy portion with the sanctuary of the temple in its midst, that is, the territory allocated to the priests (see verses 10-12), the property of the Levites (see verse 13), and the property of the city (see verses 15-19) are the three sections that make up the whole area mentioned in verse 20. This area will be in the midst of that which belongs to the prince, that is, it will be “in the middle of” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) the land that belongs to the king, because the king will have two sections of land, one on either side of the area. Here in the midst of most likely means “in the center of” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version; similarly Contemporary English Version).

In Hebrew verse 22 begins literally with “and from the property of the Levites and from the property of the city…” (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). It is difficult to make good sense of this reading, although some translators have tried; for example, New Jerusalem Bible renders verse 22 as “Thus, apart from the property of the Levites and the property of the city which lie in the middle of the prince’s portion, everything between the borders of Judah and the borders of Benjamin must belong to the prince” (similarly New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version, Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). However, most translations omit the preposition “from” and begin verse 22 in a similar way as that of Revised Standard Version (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible, Complete Jewish Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Translators may follow this reading, on which the following model is based, because it includes all three sections of the holy portion of the land that is in the middle of the king’s territory, not just the Levites’ land and the land around the city.

A model for combining verses 21-22 is:

• This area, which is 12.5 kilometers square, will contain the holy land of the priests (where the Temple will be), the Levites’ land, and the land where the city will be. It will be in the middle of the king’s land. The king will have the rest of the land, that is, two sections, one stretching from the edge of this area to the eastern border of the country, the other stretching from the [other] edge of this area to the western border. These two sections of land belonging to the king will run alongside the borders of the territories of Judah and Benjamin. It will lie between those two territories [south of Judah and north of Benjamin].

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .