⁵ He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord’s Temple.

¹² The walls of the great courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone, just like the walls of the inner courtyard of the Lord’s Temple with its entry room.

¹² Josiah tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above the upper room of Ahaz. The king destroyed the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. He smashed them to bits^[a] and scattered the pieces in the Kidron Valley.

⁴ Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel.

³⁶ The walls of the inner courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone.

¹⁹ When they return to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must take off the clothes they wear while ministering to me. They must leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes so they do not endanger anyone by transmitting holiness to them through this clothing.

⁵ Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.

³ One block of rooms overlooked the 35-foot^[a] width of the inner courtyard. Another block of rooms looked out onto the pavement of the outer courtyard. The two blocks were built three levels high and stood across from each other.

The Inner Courtyard and Temple

⁴⁷ Then the man measured the inner courtyard, and it was a square, 175 feet wide and 175 feet across. The altar stood in the courtyard in front of the Temple.

³⁷ Its entry room^[a] faced into the outer courtyard, and it had palm tree decorations on the columns. There were eight steps leading to its entrance.