44-46 Right where the inside gate complex opened onto the inside courtyard there were two rooms, one at the north gate facing south and the one at the south gate facing north. The man told me, “The room facing south is for the priests who are in charge of the Temple. And the room facing north is for the priests who are in charge of the altar. These priests are the sons of Zadok, the only sons of Levi permitted to come near to God to serve him.”

47 He measured the inside courtyard: a hundred seventy-five feet square. The altar was in front of the Temple.

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48-49 He led me to the porch of the Temple and measured the gateposts of the porch: eight and three-quarters feet high on both sides. The entrance to the gate complex was twenty-one feet wide and its connecting walls were four and a half feet thick. The vestibule itself was thirty-five feet wide and twenty-one feet deep. Ten steps led up to the porch. Columns flanked the gateposts.

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46 and the room facing north(A) is for the priests who guard the altar.(B) These are the sons of Zadok,(C) who are the only Levites who may draw near to the Lord to minister before him.(D)

47 Then he measured the court: It was square—a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.(E)

The New Temple

48 He brought me to the portico of the temple(F) and measured the jambs of the portico; they were five cubits wide on either side. The width of the entrance was fourteen cubits[a] and its projecting walls were[b] three cubits[c] wide on either side.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 40:48 That is, about 25 feet or about 7.4 meters
  2. Ezekiel 40:48 Septuagint; Hebrew entrance was
  3. Ezekiel 40:48 That is, about 5 1/4 feet or about 1.6 meters