Ezekiel 48 · WEB
Tribal Allotments and the City: Yahweh Is There
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
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"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 reeds in width, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.
9"The offering that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand reeds in length, and ten thousand in width.
10For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in width, and toward the east ten thousand in width, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in the middle of it.
11It 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.
12It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.
13"Answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width: all the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the width ten thousand.
14They 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 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 lands; and the city shall be in the middle of it.
16These shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
17The city shall have pasture lands: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty.
18The remainder in the length, answerable to the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be answerable to the holy offering; and its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city.
19Those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall till it.
20All the offering shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy offering four-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 of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the middle of it.
22Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the middle of that which is the prince's, 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 Meribath Kadesh, to the brook, 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 and five hundred reeds by measure;
31and the gates of the city shall be after the names of 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 and five hundred reeds, and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.
33"At the south side four thousand and five hundred reeds 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 and five hundred reeds, 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 reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, 'Yahweh is there.'"
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Summary
The Lord assigns each of the twelve tribes a horizontal strip of land from east to west, with a central sacred portion reserved for the sanctuary, priests, Levites, city, and prince. The city has twelve gates — one for each tribe — on all four sides. The book ends with the climactic new name of the city: "Yahweh Shammah," meaning "The LORD Is There."
Themes
- Equal inheritance among the tribes
- God's dwelling at the center of his people
- Holiness radiating from sanctuary to city
- The twelve gates of welcome
- God's presence as Israel's identity
Key verses
- Ezek 48:11 — “It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction.”
- Ezek 48:29 — “This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance.”
- Ezek 48:35 — “The name of the city from that day shall be, 'Yahweh is there.'”
Context & background
Ezekiel prophesied from exile in Babylon (modern central Iraq) around 573 BC. Unlike Joshua's original division of Canaan, this vision gives each tribe an equal east-west strip, abolishing old imbalances. The central "holy portion" places the sanctuary at the literal heart of the land. The city's twelve gates — three per side, named for the tribes — anticipate the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. The final Hebrew phrase "Yahweh Shammah" inverts Ezekiel's earlier vision of God's glory departing (chapters 10-11) — the presence that left now returns permanently.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 10-11 — The glory of the Lord departs from the temple
- Ezekiel 43:7 — "This is the place of my throne... where I will dwell in the middle of the children of Israel forever"
- Joshua 13-19 — Original tribal allotments under Joshua
- Revelation 21:12-13 — New Jerusalem with twelve gates named for the twelve tribes of Israel
- Revelation 21:3 — "Behold, God's dwelling is with men, and he will dwell with them"