Ezekiel 40:38-43:27

Amplified Bible

³⁸ A chamber with its doorway was by the side pillars of the gates; there the burnt offering was to be washed. ³⁹ In the porch (portico) of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. ⁴⁰ On the outer ^[a]side, as one went up to the ^[b]gateway toward the north, were two tables; and on the other ^[c]side of the porch of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ Four tables were on each ^[d]side next to the gate; [a total of] eight tables on which they slaughter sacrifices. ⁴² Moreover, there were four tables of hewn stone (ashlar) for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which they lay the instruments with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice. ⁴³ The double hooks, one hand width in length were installed in the ^[e]house all around. The meat of the offering was [to be placed] on the tables.

⁴⁴ From the outside to the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner courtyard, one of which was ^[f]beside the north gate, with its front toward the south, and one ^[g]beside the ^[h]south gate facing toward the north. ⁴⁵ He [who was guiding me] said to me, “This is the chamber which faces toward the south; it is for the priests who have the responsibility and take care of the temple; ⁴⁶ but the chamber which faces toward the north is for the priests who have the responsibility and take care of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who [alone] from the sons of Levi come near to the Lord to minister to Him.” ⁴⁷ He measured the courtyard, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide, a perfect square; and the altar was in front of the temple.

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the porch of the temple, and he measured each side pillar of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on each side. ⁴⁹ The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits; and at the stairway by which it was ascended, there were [two] columns beside the side pillars, one on each side [of the entrance].

The Inner Temple

41 Then he (the angel) brought me to the nave (outer sanctuary) and measured the side pillars; six cubits wide on each side was the width of the ^[i]side pillar. ² The width of the entrance was ten cubits and the ^[j]sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits. ³ Then he went inside [the inner sanctuary] and measured each side pillar of the doorway, two cubits, and the doorway, six cubits [high], and the width of the doorway, seven cubits.^{(A) 4} He measured the length [of the interior of the inner sanctuary], twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, ^[k]opposite the nave (outer sanctuary); and he said to me, “This is the ^[l]Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits [thick, to accommodate side chambers]; and the width of every side chamber, four cubits, all around the temple on every side. ⁶ The side chambers were three stories [high], one above another, and thirty chambers in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, so that they would be attached, but not attached to the wall of the temple itself. ⁷ The side chambers became wider at each successive level as they encompassed the temple. Because the structure surrounding the temple went higher by stages on all sides of the temple, for that reason the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and thus one went up from the lowest story to the highest one by way of the ^[m]second story. ⁸ I also saw that the temple (house) had a raised platform all around it; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full rod of six long cubits in height. ⁹ The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple ¹⁰ and the outer chambers was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. ¹¹ The doorways of the side chambers toward the free space were one doorway toward the north and another doorway toward the south; and the width of the free space was five cubits all around.

¹² The building that was in front of the separate area on the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

¹³ Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. ¹⁴ Also the width of the front of the temple and the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.

¹⁵ He (the angel) measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also measured the inner sanctuary and the porches (porticoes) of the courtyard. ¹⁶ The thresholds, the latticed windows, and the galleries all around their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), ¹⁷ over the entrance, and to the inner ^[n]room, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. ¹⁸ It was ^[o]carved with [figures of] cherubim and palm trees; so that a palm decoration was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹ so that the face of a man was toward the palm decoration on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm decoration on the other side. It was carved [this way] on the entire house (temple) all around. ²⁰ From the ^[p]floor to [the space] above the entrance cherubim and palm decorations were carved, and also on the wall of the nave [the Holy Place].

²¹ The doorposts of the nave were square; as for the front of the sanctuary, the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other. ²² The ^[q]altar was of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long; and its corners, its ^[r]base, and its ^[s]sides were wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” ²³ The nave (Holy Place) and the sanctuary (Holy of Holies) each had a double door. ²⁴ Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging (folding) leaves; two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other. ²⁵ And there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm decorations like those carved on the walls; and there was a ^[t]threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside. ²⁶ There were latticed windows and palm decorations on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch. Thus were the side chambers and the ^[u]thresholds of the house.

Chambers of the Temple

42 Then he (the angel) brought me out into the outer courtyard, toward the north; and he led me to the [attached] chamber which was opposite the separate area and opposite the building to the north. ² Along the length, one hundred cubits, was the north door; and the width was fifty cubits. ³ Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner courtyard, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer courtyard, was gallery (balcony) corresponding to gallery in three stories. ⁴ In front of the [attached] chambers was an inner walkway ten cubits wide ^[v]and one hundred cubits long; and their entrances were on the north. ⁵ Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took away more space from them than from the chambers on the lower and middle stories of the building; ⁶ for they were in three stories and did not have pillars like the pillars of the [outer] courtyards; therefore the upper chambers were ^[w]set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. ⁷ And the outer wall, by the side of the chambers, toward the outer courtyard facing the chambers, was fifty cubits long. ⁸ For the length of the chambers which were in the outer courtyard was fifty cubits, ^[x]while the length of those facing the temple was a hundred cubits. ⁹ Below these chambers was the entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer courtyard.

¹⁰ In the width of the wall of the courtyard toward the east, facing the separate area and facing the building, were chambers; ¹¹ and a passage in front of them was like the appearance of the [attached] chambers on the north, and they had the same length and width, and all their exits were like both their ^[y]arrangements and their entrances. ¹² And like the entrances of the chambers that were toward the south there was an entrance at the head of the walkway, the walkway in front of the ^[z]dividing wall toward the east, as one enters them.

¹³ Then he (the angel) said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the separate area, are the holy chambers where the priests who are close to the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall place the most holy things—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy. ¹⁴ When the priests enter [the Holy Place], they shall not go out from the sanctuary into the outer court ^[aa]unless they lay there their garments in which they minister, for these are holy (set apart). They shall put on other garments before they approach that which is for the people.”

¹⁵ Now when he had finished measuring the inner temple, he brought me out toward the gate which faced east and measured the outer area all around. ¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring ^[ab]rod, five hundred rods by the measuring rod. ¹⁷ He measured the north side, five hundred rods by the measuring rod. ¹⁸ He measured the south side, five hundred rods by the measuring rod. ¹⁹ He turned about to the west side and measured five hundred rods by the measuring rod. ²⁰ He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, the length five hundred and the width five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy [the temple proper] and that which was common [the outer area].

Vision of the Glory of God Filling the Temple

43 Then he (the angel) led me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. ² And behold, the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east; and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.^{(B) 3} And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision I saw beside the River Chebar [near Babylon]; and I fell face downward.^{(C) 4} And the glory and brilliance of the Lord entered the ^[ac]temple by way of the gate facing toward the east. ⁵ Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner courtyard; and behold, the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶ And I heard One speaking to me from the temple, while a man was standing beside me. ⁷ And He [the Lord] said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the sons (descendants) of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their [idolatrous] prostitution and by the corpses and monuments of their kings in their graves, ⁸ by setting their threshold by My threshold and their doorpost beside My doorpost, with [only] the wall between Me and them. They have defiled and desecrated My holy name by the vile atrocities which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger. ⁹ Now let them put far away from Me their [idolatrous] prostitution and the corpses and monuments of their kings, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰ “As for you, son of man, ^[ad]describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins; and let them measure its plan [in detail]. ¹¹ If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple (house), its layout, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its statutes and do them. ¹² This is the law of the temple: Its entire ^[ae]area all around on the top of the mountain ^[af](Mount Moriah) shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

The Altar of Sacrifice

¹³ “And these are the measurements of the altar [of burnt offering] in cubits (the cubit being a [long] cubit [the length of a forearm] and a hand width): the ^[ag]base shall be a cubit [long] and a cubit wide, with its border on its edge all around it of a span [in width]. And this shall be the height of the ^[ah]base of the altar. ¹⁴ From the base on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits and the width one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be four cubits and the width one cubit. ¹⁵ The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and from the altar hearth shall extend upwards four horns [one from each corner, each one cubit high]. ¹⁶ Now the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides. ¹⁷ The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide on its four sides, and the border around it shall be half a cubit; and its base shall be a cubit all around, and its steps shall face the east.”^(D)

The Offerings

¹⁸ And He [the Lord] said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘These are the statutes and regulations for [the use of] the altar on the day that it is built, to offer burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it. ¹⁹ You shall give to the priests, the Levites who are from the descendants of Zadok, who are close to Me to minister to Me,’ says the Lord God, ‘a young bull for a sin offering [as a memorial to Christ’s sacrifice]. ²⁰ And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns [of the altar of burnt offering] and on the four corners of the ledge and on the border all around; thus you shall cleanse it (from sin) and make atonement for it. ²¹ You shall also take the bull for the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sanctuary.^(E)

²² ‘On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall cleanse the altar as they cleansed it with the bull. ²³ When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. ²⁴ You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. ²⁵ For seven days you shall prepare daily a goat for a sin offering; also a young bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be prepared. ²⁶ For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it; so the priests shall consecrate it [to receive offerings].^{(F) 27} When they have completed these days, on the eighth day and from then onward, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ says the Lord God.”^(G)