Ezekiel 48:8-9

8, 9. Toy reads: “On the border of Judah, from the east end to the west end, shall be the reservation which ye shall set aside: twenty-five thousand cubits wide, and in length equal to one tribal portion from east to west; and the sanctuary shall be therein. The reservation which ye shall set aside for Jehovah shall be twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide.” Plumptre, with many old expositors, believes not cubit but reed is “undoubtedly the word to be supplied” in the above specifications, if so it would mark distinctively the ideal character of the land distribution, since if the attempt were made to lay off this reservation (A.V., “offering;” R.V., “oblation”) of twenty thousand reeds (one hundred and forty thousand cubits) in length, it would extend far beyond the Jordan, which is given as the east border of the land. We think probably “cubit,” not “reed,” should be supplied (see Ezekiel 45:1-5) and read with the Septuagint twenty thousand instead of ten thousand (Ezekiel 48:9), believing that this verse and the close of Ezekiel 48:13 refer to the entire territory occupied by both priests and Levites.