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12 The temple area on my holy mountain must be kept sacred! This is the most important law about the temple.

The Altar

13 (A) According to the official standards, the altar in the temple had the following measurements: Around the bottom of the altar was a gutter 50 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters deep, with a 25-centimeter ledge on the outer rim. 14-17 The altar rested on a base and had three sections, each one of them square. The bottom section was 8 meters on each side and one meter high. The middle section was 7 meters on each side and 2 meters high, and it had a 25-centimeter rim around its outer edge. The top section, which was 6 meters on each side and 2 meters high, was the place where sacrifices were burned, and the four corners of the top section looked like the horns of a bull. The steps leading up to the altar were on the east side.

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12 “This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area(A) on top of the mountain will be most holy.(B) Such is the law of the temple.

The Great Altar Restored

13 “These are the measurements of the altar(C) in long cubits,[a] that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span[b] around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: 14 From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge that goes around the altar it is two cubits high, and the ledge is a cubit wide.[c] From this lower ledge to the upper ledge that goes around the altar it is four cubits high, and that ledge is also a cubit wide.[d] 15 Above that, the altar hearth(D) is four cubits high, and four horns(E) project upward from the hearth. 16 The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits[e] long and twelve cubits wide.(F) 17 The upper ledge(G) also is square, fourteen cubits[f] long and fourteen cubits wide. All around the altar is a gutter of one cubit with a rim of half a cubit.[g] The steps(H) of the altar face east.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 43:13 That is, about 21 inches or about 53 centimeters; also in verses 14 and 17. The long cubit is the basic unit for linear measurement throughout Ezekiel 40–48.
  2. Ezekiel 43:13 That is, about 11 inches or about 27 centimeters
  3. Ezekiel 43:14 That is, about 3 1/2 feet high and 1 3/4 feet wide or about 105 centimeters high and 53 centimeters wide
  4. Ezekiel 43:14 That is, about 7 feet high and 1 3/4 feet wide or about 2.1 meters high and 53 centimeters wide
  5. Ezekiel 43:16 That is, about 21 feet or about 6.4 meters
  6. Ezekiel 43:17 That is, about 25 feet or about 7.4 meters
  7. Ezekiel 43:17 That is, about 11 inches or about 27 centimeters