Chambers of the Temple

42 Then he (A)brought me out into the (B)outer courtyard, the way (C)toward the north; and he brought me to the (D)chamber which was opposite the (E)separate area and opposite the (F)building toward the north. Along the length, which was a (G)hundred [a]cubits, was the north door; the width was fifty cubits. Opposite the (H)twenty cubits which belonged to the inner courtyard, and opposite the (I)stone pavement which belonged to the outer courtyard, was [b](J)gallery corresponding to [c]gallery in three stories. In front of the (K)chambers was an inner passage ten cubits wide, a way of one hundred cubits; and their openings were on the north. Now the upper chambers were [d]smaller because the [e](L)galleries took more space away from them than from the lower and middle ones in the building. For they were in (M)three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courtyards; for that reason the upper chambers were [f]set back from the ground upward, more than the lower and middle ones. As for the (N)outer wall by the side of the chambers, toward the outer courtyard facing the chambers, its length was fifty cubits. For the length of the chambers which were in the outer courtyard was fifty cubits; and behold, the length of those facing the main room was a (O)hundred cubits. And below these chambers was the (P)entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer courtyard.

10 In the [g]thickness of the (Q)wall of the courtyard toward the east, facing the (R)separate area and facing the building, there were (S)chambers. 11 And the (T)way in front of them was like the appearance of the chambers which were on the north; according to their length, so was their width, and all their exits were according to their building plans and openings. 12 Corresponding to the openings of the chambers which were toward the south was an opening at the head of the way, the way in front of the (U)wall toward the east, as one enters them.

13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the (V)separate area, they are the (W)holy chambers where the priests who are (X)near to the Lord shall eat the (Y)most holy things. There they shall set the most holy things, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; for the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter, they shall not go out into the outer courtyard from the sanctuary [h]without (Z)laying their (AA)garments there in which they minister, for they are holy. They shall put on other garments; then they shall approach that which is for the people.”

15 Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by way of the (AB)gate which faced east, and measured it all around. 16 He measured on the east side with the measuring [i]rod: five hundred rods by the (AC)measuring rod. 17 He measured on the north side: five hundred rods by the measuring rod. 18 On the south side he measured five hundred rods with the measuring rod. 19 He turned to the west side and measured five hundred rods with the measuring rod. 20 He measured it [j]on the four sides; it had a (AD)wall all around, the (AE)length five hundred rods and the (AF)width five hundred, to (AG)divide between the holy and the [k]common.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 42:2 Each of these cubits equals about 21 in. or 53 cm
  2. Ezekiel 42:3 Or passageway
  3. Ezekiel 42:3 Or passageway
  4. Ezekiel 42:5 Lit shorter
  5. Ezekiel 42:5 Or passageways
  6. Ezekiel 42:6 Or reduced
  7. Ezekiel 42:10 Lit width
  8. Ezekiel 42:14 Lit but there they shall lay
  9. Ezekiel 42:16 Lit reed, and so throughout the ch
  10. Ezekiel 42:20 Lit toward the four winds
  11. Ezekiel 42:20 Lit profane

The Holy Chambers and the Outer Wall

42 Then he led me out into the outer court toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the temple yard and opposite the building on the north.(A) The length of the building that was on the north side[a] was[b] one hundred cubits and the width fifty cubits. Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, the chambers rose[c] gallery[d] by gallery[e] in three stories.(B) Amid the chambers was an interior passage, ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits deep,[f] and its[g] entrances were on the north.(C) Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries[h] took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers in the building. For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the outer[i] court; for this reason the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones.(D) There was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long. For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the temple were one hundred cubits long.(E) At the foot of these chambers ran a passage that one entered from the east in order to enter them from the terrace space outside.(F) 10 The entrance was aligned with the start of the wall[j] toward the court.

On the south[k] also, opposite the vacant area and opposite the building, there were chambers 11 with a passage in front of them; they were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and width, with the same exits[l] and arrangements and doors. 12 So the entrances of the chambers to the south were entered through the entrance at the head of the corresponding passage, from the east, along the matching wall.[m]

13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the vacant area are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there they shall deposit the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.(G) 14 When the priests enter the holy place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the vestments in which they minister, for these are holy; they shall put on other garments before they go near to the area open to the people.”(H)

15 When he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faces east and measured the temple area all around.(I) 16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 17 Then he turned and measured[n] the north side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 18 Then he turned and measured[o] the south side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to make a separation between the holy and the common.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 42.2 Gk: Heb door
  2. 42.2 Gk: Heb before the length
  3. 42.3 Heb lacks the chambers rose
  4. 42.3 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 42.3 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  6. 42.4 Gk Syr: Heb a way of one cubit
  7. 42.4 Heb their
  8. 42.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  9. 42.6 Gk: Heb lacks outer
  10. 42.10 Compare Gk: Heb in the thickness of the wall
  11. 42.10 Gk: Heb east
  12. 42.11 Heb and all their exits
  13. 42.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  14. 42.17 Gk: Heb measuring reed all around. He measured
  15. 42.18 Gk: Heb measuring reed all around. He measured

42 And he brought me forth into the outward court by the way that leadeth to the north, and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate building, and over against the house toward the north.

In the face of the north door was the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth of fifty cubits.

Over against the twenty cubits of the inner court, and over against the pavement of the outward court that was paved with stone, where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery.

And before the chambers was a walk ten cubits broad, looking to the inner parts of a way of one cubit. And their doors were toward the north.

Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from the lower parts, and from the midst of the building.

For they were of three stories, and had not pillars, as the pillars of the courts: therefore did they appear above out of the lower places, and out of the middle places, fifty cubits from the ground.

And the outward wall that went about by the chambers, which were towards the outward court on the forepart of the chambers, was fifty cubits long.

For the length of the chambers of the outward court was fifty cubits: and the length before the face of the temple, a hundred cubits.

And there was under these chambers, an entrance from the east, for them that went into them out of the outward court.

10 In the breadth of the outward wall of the court that was toward the east, over against the separate building, and there were chambers before the building.

11 And the way before them was like the chambers which were toward the north: they were as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the going in to them, and their fashions, and their doors were alike.

12 According to the doors of the chambers that were towards the south: there was a door in the head of the way, which way was before the porch, separated towards the east as one entereth in.

13 And he said to me: The chambers of the north, and the chambers of the south, which are before the separate building: they are holy chambers, in which the priests shall eat, that approach to the Lord into the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and the offering for sin, and for trespass: for it is a holy place.

14 And when the priests shall have entered in, they shall not go out of the holy places into the outward court: but there they shall lay their vestments, wherein they minister, for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and so they shall go forth to the people.

15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate that looked toward the east: and he measured it on every side round about.

16 And he measured toward the east with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

17 And he measured toward the north five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

18 And towards the south he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

19 And toward the west he measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.

20 By the four winds he measured the wall thereof on every side round about, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits broad, making a separation between the sanctuary and the place of the people.

42 1-9 The man led me north into the outside courtyard and brought me to the rooms that are in front of the open space and the house facing north. The length of the house on the north was one hundred seventy-five feet, and its width eighty-seven and a half feet. Across the thirty-five feet that separated the inside courtyard from the paved walkway at the edge of the outside courtyard, the rooms rose level by level for three stories. In front of the rooms on the inside was a hallway seventeen and a half feet wide and one hundred seventy-five feet long. Its entrances were from the north. The upper rooms themselves were narrower, their galleries being wider than on the first and second floors of the building. The rooms on the third floor had no pillars like the pillars in the outside courtyard and were smaller than the rooms on the first and second floors. There was an outside wall parallel to the rooms and the outside courtyard. It fronted the rooms for eighty-seven and a half feet. The row of rooms facing the outside courtyard was eighty-seven and a half feet long. The row on the side nearest the Sanctuary was one hundred seventy-five feet long. The first-floor rooms had their entrance from the east, coming in from the outside courtyard.

10-12 On the south side along the length of the courtyard’s outside wall and fronting on the Temple courtyard were rooms with a walkway in front of them. These were just like the rooms on the north—same exits and dimensions—with the main entrance from the east leading to the hallway and the doors to the rooms the same as those on the north side. The design on the south was a mirror image of that on the north.

13-14 Then he said to me, “The north and south rooms adjacent to the open area are holy rooms where the priests who come before God eat the holy offerings. There they place the holy offerings—grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. These are set-apart rooms, holy space. After the priests have entered the Sanctuary, they must not return to the outside courtyard and mingle among the people until they change the sacred garments in which they minister and put on their regular clothes.”

15-16 After he had finished measuring what was inside the Temple area, he took me out the east gate and measured it from the outside. Using his measuring stick, he measured the east side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

17 He measured the north side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

18 He measured the south side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

19 Last of all he went to the west side and measured it: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

20 He measured the wall on all four sides. Each wall was eight hundred seventy-five feet. The walls separated the holy from the ordinary.