1. "When you divide the land among the tribes of Israel, you must set aside a section of it for the Lord as his holy portion. This piece of land will be 81/3 miles long and 62/3 miles wide. The entire area will be holy ground.
2. A section of this land, measuring 875 feet by 875 feet, will be set aside for the Temple. An additional strip of land 871/2 feet wide is to be left empty all around it.
3. Within the larger sacred area, measure out a portion of land 81/3 miles long and 31/3 miles wide. Within it the sanctuary of the Most Holy Place will be located.
4. This area will be a holy land, set aside for the priests who minister to the Lord in the sanctuary. They will use it for their homes, and my Temple will be located within it.
5. The strip of sacred land next to it, also 81/3 miles long and 31/3 miles wide, will be a living area for the Levites who work at the Temple. It will be their possession and a place for their towns.
6. "Adjacent to the larger sacred area will be a section of land 81/3 miles long and 12/3 miles wide. This will be set aside to be a city where anyone in Israel can come and live.
7. "Two special sections of land will be set apart for the prince. One section will share a border with the east side of the sacred lands and city, and the second section will share a border on the west side. Then the far eastern and western borders of the prince's lands will line up with the eastern and western boundaries of the tribal areas.
8. These sections of land will be the prince's allotment. "My princes will no longer oppress and rob my people; they will assign the rest of the land to the people, giving an allotment to each tribe.
9. For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop all your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land! Stop expelling them from their homes!
10. You must use only honest weights and scales, honest dry volume measures, and honest liquid volume measures.
11. The homer will be your standard unit for measuring volume. The ephah and the bath will each measure one-tenth of a homer.
12. The standard unit for weight will be the silver shekel. One shekel consists of twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels are equal to one mina.
13. "This is the tax you must give to the prince: one bushel of wheat or barley for every sixty you harvest,
14. one percent of your olive oil,
15. and one sheep for every two hundred in your flocks in Israel. These will be the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings that will make atonement for the people who bring them, says the Sovereign Lord.
16. All the people of Israel must join the prince in bringing their offerings.
17. The prince will be required to provide offerings that are given at the religious festivals, the new moon celebrations, the Sabbath days, and all other similar occasions. He will provide the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings to make reconciliation for the people of Israel.
18. "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In early spring, on the first day of each new year, sacrifice a young bull with no physical defects to purify the Temple.
19. The priest will take some of the blood of this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge on the altar, and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard.
20. Do this also on the seventh day of the new year for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance. In that way, you will make atonement for the Temple.
21. "On the fourteenth day of the new year, you must celebrate the Passover. This festival will last for seven days. Only bread without yeast may be eaten during that time.
22. On the day of Passover the prince will provide a young bull as a sin offering for himself and the people of Israel.
23. On each of the seven days of the feast he will prepare a burnt offering to the Lord. This daily offering will consist of seven young bulls and seven rams without any defects. A male goat will also be given each day for a sin offering.
24. The prince will provide a half bushel of flour as a grain offering and a gallon of olive oil with each young bull and ram.
25. "During the seven days of the Festival of Shelters, which occurs every year in early autumn, the prince will provide these same sacrifices for the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the grain offering, along with the required olive oil.