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The river from the temple
47 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw water that was pouring out from under the entrance. It was pouring towards the east. (The front entrance of the temple opened towards the east.) The river of water came from under the south side of the temple. It went past the south side of the altar. 2 The man took me out through the north gate of the temple. We went around the outside to the gate that opens towards the east. There I saw a small stream of water. It was coming out from the south side of the gate.
3 The man went towards the east. He measured 500 metres in that direction. He took me through the water there. The water was as high as my ankles. 4 Then he measured another 500 metres along the stream. He took me through the water again. Here, the water was as high as my knees. He measured another 500 metres. He took me through the water and it was now as high as my belt. 5 Then he measured another 500 metres. Here the water had become a deep river. It was too deep for me to go across. Nobody could walk through it. They would need to swim.
6 The man said to me, ‘Son of man, you must remember what you have seen.’
Then he took me back to the river's edge. 7 When I got there, I saw very many trees. They were on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, ‘This river of water goes towards the land in the east. It goes into the valley of the Jordan River. Then the water goes into the Salt Sea. When it goes into the sea there, the water becomes pure instead of salty.[a] 9 Wherever the river goes, many kinds of animals and fish will live. There will be lots of fish in the Salt Sea because the water that goes in there will make it pure. There will be many living things in places where the river goes. 10 Men will stand on the edge of the sea to catch fish. They will use their nets to catch fish, all the way from En-Gedi to En-Eglaim. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the water in the pools and the wet places around the Salt Sea will not become pure. There will still be salt for people there. 12 All kinds of fruit trees will live on each side of the river. Their leaves will never become dry. They will always give fruit every month. This is because the water that feeds them comes from the holy temple. The fruit from these trees will provide food. And their leaves will make sick people well.’
The borders of Israel's land
13 This is what the Almighty Lord says: ‘This is the land that you will share among Israel's 12 tribes. Give one part to each tribe, but Joseph's descendants will have two parts.[b] 14 Share the land in equal parts for each tribe. I promised your ancestors that I would give them this land to live in. So now it will belong to you and your descendants.
15 These will be the borders of your land:
The north border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon. It continues to go east, past Lebo-Hamath and to Zedad. 16 From there, it continues through Berothah and Sibraim. Those towns are on the border between Damascus and Hamath. Then it goes as far as Hazer-Hattikon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 The border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazar-Enan. The border of Hamath is on the north side and the border of Damascus is on the south side. That is the north border of your land.
18 On the east side, the border of your land is the Jordan River. It starts between Hauran and Damascus. It goes between the region of Gilead and Israel's land, past the Salt Sea as far as Tamar. That is the east border.
19 On the south side, the border goes from Tamar to the springs of water near Meribath Kadesh. Then it goes along the Stream at Egypt's border to the Mediterranean Sea. That is the south border.
20 On the west side, the Mediterranean Sea is the border of your land. It goes north to a place on the west side of Lebo-Hamath. That is the north border of your land.
21 You must share this land among yourselves so that each tribe of Israel receives a part. 22 Each part that you receive will belong to you and to the foreigners who live among you. Those foreigners have given birth to their own children among you. Accept them as if they were born as Israelites. They must receive land for themselves among Israel's tribes. 23 Give them land among the tribe where they have decided to live.’
That is what the Almighty Lord says.
Each tribe gets its part of the land
48 ‘This is the list of Israel's tribes, with the land that each tribe will receive:
Dan will receive land at the north border of Israel. Their north border goes east from the Mediterranean Sea along the road to Hethlon, as far as Lebo-Hamath. From there, it goes to Hazar-Enan, on the border between Damascus and Hamath.
Dan's part of the land goes all the way from Israel's border in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
2 South of Dan's land will be the land for Asher.
3 South of Asher's land will be the land for Naphtali.
4 South of Naphtali's land will be the land for Manasseh.
5 South of Manasseh's land will be the land for Ephraim.
6 South of Ephraim's land will be the land for Reuben.
7 South of Reuben's land will be the land for Judah.
8 South of Judah's land will be a special part of the land, with the temple in the middle of it. From east to west, it will be the same size as the parts of the land for Israel's tribes. From north to south, it will be 12½ kilometres.
9 The part that belongs to the Lord for his temple will be 12½ kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide. 10 The priests will have a part of this holy land. Their part will measure 12½ kilometres from east to west. It will measure 5 kilometres from north to south. The Lord's temple will be in the middle of this part. 11 This holy part of the land will belong to the priests who are descendants of Zadok. They are the priests who served me faithfully. They did not turn away from me as the other Levites did when Israel's people did not obey me. 12 So the priests will have that special part of the land, next to the part for the Levites. The priests' part will be the most holy part of the land.
13 The Levites will also have a special part, south of the part for the priests. It will be the same size. It will measure 12½ kilometres from east to west, and 5 kilometres from north to south. So the land for the priests and for the Levites will be 12½ kilometres from east to west and 10 kilometres from north to south. 14 The special part of the land that belongs to the Lord is the best of the whole land. You must not give his land to anyone else or sell it to anyone else. It is holy and it belongs to the Lord.
15 The other part of the special land is 12½ kilometres from east to west and 2½ kilometres from north to south. That part is not holy. Ordinary people may use it. They may live there and use the fields. There will be a city in the middle of it. 16 The city will be square, 2,250 metres long on each side. 17 You must leave an open space 125 metres wide on each side of the city. 18 There will be two other pieces of land south of the special holy land. There will be a piece 2.5 kilometres wide on the east side of the city and a piece 2.5 kilometres wide on the west side. People who live in the city may use these pieces of land to grow crops. 19 There will be people from the different tribes of Israel who live in the city. Any of them may use the land to grow things.
20 The whole of the special land, including the holy part and the part for the city, will be a square. Each side will be 12½ kilometres.
21 The parts of land on each side of the square will belong to the ruler. The part on the east side will go as far as Israel's border in the east. The part on the west side will go as far as the Mediterranean Sea. The holy part of land where the temple is will be in the middle, between them. 22 The land that belongs to the Levites and the priests, as well as the city, will be between the two parts of land that belong to the ruler. The land for Judah will be on the north side of these lands. The land for Benjamin's will be on the south side.
23 The other tribes will each have a part of the land that is south of this special part. The land for each of these tribes will go all the way from Israel's border in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
South of the special land will be the land for Benjamin.
24 South of the Benjamin's land will be the land for Simeon.
25 South of Simeon's land will be the land for Issachar.
26 South of Issachar's land will be the land for Zebulun.
27 South of Zebulun's land will be the land for Gad.
28 The border on the south side of Gad's land goes from Tamar to the springs of water near Meribath Kadesh. From there, it goes along the stream at Egypt's border to the Mediterranean Sea.
29 That is how you must share the land among Israel's tribes. Each part will belong to one tribe and their descendants. I, the Almighty Lord, say this.
The gates of the city
30 These will be the entrance gates on each side of the city. The wall on the north side of the city will be 2,250 metres long. 31 There will be three gates on that side. Each gate will have the name of one of Israel's tribes, one for Reuben, the next for Judah, and the next for Levi. 32 The wall on the east side will also be 2,250 metres long. The three gates on that side will be for Joseph, for Benjamin and for Dan. 33 The wall on the south side will also be 2,250 metres long. The three gates on that side will be for Simeon, for Issachar and for Zebulun. 34 The wall on the west side will also be 2,250 metres long. The three gates on that side will be for Gad, for Asher and for Naphtali. 35 So the walls all around the city will measure 9,000 metres.
From that time on, the name of the city will be, “The Lord is there.” ’
11 My friends, remember that you are really strangers in this world. You do not belong here. So I am telling you not to do the bad things that your bodies may want to do. Those bad things fight against what is good for your soul. 12 You are living among people who do not know God. So be very careful that you always live in a good way. Sometimes these people may wrongly say that you do bad things. But if you continue to live in a good way, they will see that you really do good things. As a result, on the day when God comes as judge, they will give honour to him.
Obey people who have authority over you
13 Obey all people who have authority in this world. Obey them, because you are servants of the Lord Jesus. First of all, obey the king, who rules everyone. 14 Also obey the officers that serve the king. He has sent them to punish people who do bad things. And they praise people who do good things. 15 God wants you to do only what is good. Then silly people will not be able to say bad things against you. Those people do not really know what is true.
16 You are free people. But you are servants of God. So do not think, ‘Because I am free, I can do any bad thing that I want to do.’ 17 Respect all people. Love the believers as you would love your family. Obey God as your master. Respect the king.
18 You who are slaves must obey your masters. Always respect them. Do that to every kind of master. Obey those who are good and kind. But also obey masters who are not fair to you. 19 This makes God happy. Maybe your master will punish you when you have done nothing wrong. If you know that you are serving God, continue to be patient and brave. 20 But if you do something wrong, then your master ought to punish you. That is only fair. Even if you are brave when he is cruel to you, nobody should praise you for that. But your master may punish you even when you have done good things. Then God will be happy if you are patient and brave. 21 When God chose you to be his servants, he wanted you to be brave like that. Christ had trouble and pain on your behalf. He has shown you how you should live when trouble comes. 22 The Bible says this:
‘He never did anything that was wrong.
He never said anything that was not true.’
23 People insulted Christ, but he did not say any bad thing to answer them. People caused him to have trouble, but he never tried to hurt them in return. Instead, Christ trusted God to help him. He knew that God always judges people fairly. 24 When Christ died on the cross, he carried our sins in his own body.[a] He took this punishment so that sin would no longer rule over us. Instead, we can now do the right things that God wants us to do. Because people hurt Christ's body, you have now become well.[b] 25 Before, you were like sheep that were going the wrong way. But now you have turned round and come to Christ. He is your Shepherd, and he keeps you completely safe.
Wives and husbands
3 I need to speak to you wives. You should each respect the authority of your own husband. Even if your husband does not believe God's message about Jesus Christ, you should still respect him. If you do that, he may then turn to God and believe his message. You will not need to tell him what is true. He will see the good way that you live. 2 He will see that you obey God and that you do things that are completely good.
3 Think about what makes you beautiful. The way that you prepare your hair does not really make you beautiful. Gold things or beautiful clothes do not make you beautiful. 4 Do not just think about your body, but think about what you are really like inside yourself. Be patient and do not become angry easily. Then you will always continue to be beautiful. If you are beautiful in your spirit, God likes that very much. 5 That was how holy women made themselves beautiful many years ago. They trusted God that he would help them. They respected the authority of their husbands. 6 Sarah was a woman like that. She obeyed her husband, Abraham. She called him, ‘My master’. So you wives also should do what is right. Do not let anything make you afraid. Then you will be like true daughters of Sarah.[c]
7 You husbands must also respect your wives. Be kind to your wife and help her. Remember that she is not as strong as you are. Because God is very kind, she has received his gift of true life, as you have. So you should respect her. Then God will answer you when you pray to him.
ZAYIN
49 Remember the word that you have spoken to me, your servant.
You have made me put my hope in it.
50 When I have trouble,
your promise gives me peace in my mind.
It makes my life strong again.
51 Proud people laugh at me all the time.
But I do not turn away from your Law.
52 Lord, I remember the rules that you made long ago.
When I do that, I feel happy.
53 When wicked people turn against your Law,
I become very angry.
54 Wherever I live, I sing songs about your rules.
55 In the night, Lord, I think about who you are.
I will continue to obey your Law.
56 This is what I do every day:
I obey your teaching.
HETH
57 Lord, you are everything that I need.
I promise to obey your rules.
58 I ask you, ‘Please, please take care of me.
Be kind and forgive me,
as you have promised to do.’
59 I have thought about the way that I live.
I have decided to return to your teaching.
60 I will be quick to obey your commands.
I will not be slow to do that.
61 Wicked people try to catch me in their traps,
but I will not forget your Law.
62 I get up in the middle of the night to praise you.
I thank you for your fair rules.
63 I am a friend of everyone who respects you,
and who obeys your teaching.
64 Lord, your faithful love is everywhere!
Please teach me your commands.
12 When righteous people have power,
everybody is happy.
But when wicked people have power,
good people run away to hide.
13 Anyone who hides his sins will never do well.
But God will forgive somebody,
if he agrees that he has done wrong things,
and if he turns away from his sins.
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