The distribution of the land among the twelve tribes
1 This is the list of the tribes. In the far north by way of Hethlon to
Hamath, to Hazar-enon, with the frontier of Damascus lying to the north,
bordering Hamath ¨C each portion extends from the eastern frontier to the
western frontier: Dan, one portion.
2 Bordering Dan, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Asher.
3 Bordering Asher, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Naph
tali.
4 Bordering Naphtali, from the eastern to the western frontier: Manas seh.
5 Bor dering Manasseh, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Ephra im.
6 Bordering Ephraim, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier: Re
uben.
7 Bordering Reuben, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Judah.
8 Bordering Judah, from the eastern frontier to the west ern frontier, is
the part you are to set aside, twenty-five thousand cubits wide, and as long
as each of the other portions from the eastern frontier to the western
frontier. The sanctuary will be in the center of it.
9 The part you must set aside for Yah weh is to be twenty-five thousand
cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide.
10 This consecrated portion is to belong to the priests, being on the north
side, twenty-five thousand cubits; on the west side ten thousand cubits
wide, on the east side ten thousand cubits wide and on the south side
twenty-five thousand cubits long, and the sanctuary of Yahweh will be the
center of it.
11 This is to belong to the consecrated priests, to those of the sons of Za
dok who maintained my liturgy and did not go astray with the straying
Israelites, as the Levites went astray.
12 And so their portion is to be taken out of the most holy portion of the
land, at the side of the territory of the Levites.
13 The territory of the Levites, like the territory of the priests, is to be
twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide ¨C the whole length
being twenty-five thousand and the width ten thousand.
14 They must not sell or exchange any part of it, and their part can never
be alienated, since it is consecrated to Yahweh.
15 The remainder, an area of five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand,
is to be a non-sacred space for the city, for houses and pastures. The city
is to stand in the center.
16 Here are its mea sure ments: on the north side, four thousand five
hundred cubits; on the south side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the
east side, four thousand five hun dred cubits; on the west side, four
thousand five hundred cubits.
17 And the city pastures are to extend two hundred and fifty cubits to the
north, two hundred and fifty to the south, two hundred and fifty to the
east, two hundred and fifty to the west.
18 What remains of the part set aside, after keeping out the consecrated
portion, consists of ten thousand cubits eastward and ten thousand westward,
alongside the consecrated por tion; this will bring in a revenue for feeding
the people working inside the city.
19 These people are to be drawn from all the tribes of Israel and shall till
this land.
20 The portion is to have a total area of twenty-five thousand cubits by
twenty-five thou sand cubits. So the sacred portion has a square shape and
is located beside the land belonging to the city.
21 What is left over on either side of the sacred portion and of the land
belonging to the city, shall be for the prince, ex tending along the
twenty-five thousand cubits eastward to the eastern frontier, and ex tending
along the twenty-five thousand cubits westward to the western frontier ¨C
running parallel with the other portions. This is the portion for the prince
with, the consecrated portion and the sanctuary of the Temple at the middle.
22 Thus, apart from the property of the Levites and property of the city
which lie inside the prince¡¯s portion, everything between the borders of
Judah and the borders of Benjamin is to belong to the prince.
23 Here are the rest of the tribes: from the eastern frontier to the western
frontier: Benja min.
24 Bordering Benjamin, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Simeon.
25 Bordering Simeon, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Issachar.
26 Bordering Issachar, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Zebulun.
27 Bordering Zebulun, from the eastern frontier to the western frontier:
Gad.
28 The southern border of Gad will be formed by the southern frontier
running through Tamar to the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, to the Wadi and
the great Sea.
29 This is the inheritance of the tribes of Israel and this is how you will
apportion it ¨C it is Yahweh who speaks.
30 Here are the ways out of the city. On the north side, being four thousand
five hundred cubits long,
31 three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, the gate of Levi; the
gates of the city are to be named after the tribes of Israel.
32 On the east side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits long,
three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, the gate of Dan.
33 On the south side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits long,
three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, the gate of Zebulun.
34 On the west side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits long,
three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, the gate of Naph tali.
35 The total perimeter will be eigthteen thousand cubits, and the name of
the city is to be: Yahweh-is-there.