Ezekiel 40:38-49

New Living Translation

Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices

³⁸A door led from the entry room of one of the inner gateways into a side room, where the meat for sacrifices was washed. ³⁹On each side of this entry room were two tables, where the sacrificial animals were slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. ⁴⁰Outside the entry room, on each side of the stairs going up to the north entrance, were two more tables. ⁴¹So there were eight tables in all—four inside and four outside—where the sacrifices were cut up and prepared. ⁴²There were also four tables of finished stone for preparation of the burnt offerings, each 31 1⁄2 inches square and 21 inches high.^[a] On these tables were placed the butchering knives and other implements for slaughtering the sacrificial animals. ⁴³There were hooks, each 3 inches^[b] long, fastened all around the foyer walls. The sacrificial meat was laid on the tables.

Rooms for the Priests

⁴⁴Inside the inner courtyard were two rooms,^[c] one beside the north gateway, facing south, and the other beside the south^[d] gateway, facing north. ⁴⁵And the man said to me, “The room beside the north inner gate is for the priests who supervise the Temple maintenance. ⁴⁶The room beside the south inner gate is for the priests in charge of the altar—the descendants of Zadok—for they alone of all the Levites may approach the Lord to minister to him.”

The Inner Courtyard and Temple

⁴⁷Then 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. ⁴⁸Then he brought me to the entry room of the Temple. He measured the walls on either side of the opening to the entry room, and they were 8 3⁄4 feet thick. The entrance itself was 24 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were an additional 5 1⁄4 feet long.^[e] ⁴⁹The entry room was 35 feet^[f] wide and 21 feet^[g] deep. There were ten steps^[h] leading up to it, with a column on each side.

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Footnotes

40:42 Hebrew 1 1⁄2 cubits [80 centimeters] long and 1 1⁄2 cubits wide and 1 cubit [53 centimeters] high.
40:43 Hebrew a handbreadth [8 centimeters].
40:44a As in Greek version; Hebrew reads rooms for singers.
40:44b As in Greek version; Hebrew reads east.
40:48 As in Greek version, which reads The entrance was 14 cubits [7.4 meters] wide, and the walls of the entrance were 3 cubits [1.6 meters] on each side; Hebrew lacks 14 cubits wide, and the walls of the entrance were.
40:49a Hebrew 20 cubits [10.6 meters].
40:49b As in Greek version, which reads 12 cubits [21 feet or 6.4 meters]; Hebrew reads 11 cubits [19 1⁄4 feet or 5.8 meters].
40:49c As in Greek version; Hebrew reads There were steps that were.