If the priests will not own any land on which to grow food, then how will they live? Verses 29-30 provide the answer to this question.

They shall eat the cereal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering: The priests’ food will be all the food sacrifices that the people bring to offer to God. For cereal offering, sin offering and guilt offering, see the comments on 40.39 and 42.13.

And every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs: Every devoted thing refers to things that belong only to God and can never be used for any other purpose. In describing these things, translators may focus either on the fact that they are totally set apart for God, that is, they belong only to God, or the fact that no one else, apart from the priests, is allowed to use them (compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “Everything proscribed”).

A model for this verse is:

• They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the repayment offerings that people give to God. All the things the people have set aside for God will be theirs.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .