The New Temple Area

40 On April 28,^[a] during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity—fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem—the Lord took hold of me. ² In a vision from God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see toward the south what appeared to be a city. ³ As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a linen measuring cord and a measuring rod.

⁴ He said to me, “Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen.”

The East Gateway

⁵ I could see a wall completely surrounding the Temple area. The man took a measuring rod that was 10 1⁄2 feet^[b] long and measured the wall, and the wall was 10 1⁄2 feet^[c] thick and 10 1⁄2 feet high.

⁶ Then he went over to the eastern gateway. He climbed the steps and measured the threshold of the gateway; it was 10 1⁄2 feet front to back.^{[d] 7} There were guard alcoves on each side built into the gateway passage. Each of these alcoves was 10 1⁄2 feet square, with a distance between them of 8 3⁄4 feet^[e] along the passage wall. The gateway’s inner threshold, which led to the entry room at the inner end of the gateway passage, was 10 1⁄2 feet front to back. ⁸ He also measured the entry room of the gateway.^{[f] 9} It was 14 feet^[g] across, with supporting columns 3 1⁄2 feet^[h] thick. This entry room was at the inner end of the gateway structure, facing toward the Temple.

¹⁰ There were three guard alcoves on each side of the gateway passage. Each had the same measurements, and the dividing walls separating them were also identical. ¹¹ The man measured the gateway entrance, which was 17 1⁄2 feet^[i] wide at the opening and 22 3⁄4 feet^[j] wide in the gateway passage. ¹² In front of each of the guard alcoves was a 21-inch^[k] curb. The alcoves themselves were 10 1⁄2 feet^[l] on each side.

¹³ Then he measured the entire width of the gateway, measuring the distance between the back walls of facing guard alcoves; this distance was 43 3⁄4 feet.^{[m] 14} He measured the dividing walls all along the inside of the gateway up to the entry room of the gateway; this distance was 105 feet.^{[n] 15} The full length of the gateway passage was 87 1⁄2 feet^[o] from one end to the other. ¹⁶ There were recessed windows that narrowed inward through the walls of the guard alcoves and their dividing walls. There were also windows in the entry room. The surfaces of the dividing walls were decorated with carved palm trees.

The Outer Courtyard

¹⁷ Then the man brought me through the gateway into the outer courtyard of the Temple. A stone pavement ran along the walls of the courtyard, and thirty rooms were built against the walls, opening onto the pavement. ¹⁸ This pavement flanked the gates and extended out from the walls into the courtyard the same distance as the gateway entrance. This was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then the man measured across the Temple’s outer courtyard between the outer and inner gateways; the distance was 175 feet.^[p]

The North Gateway

²⁰ The man measured the gateway on the north just like the one on the east. ²¹ Here, too, there were three guard alcoves on each side, with dividing walls and an entry room. All the measurements matched those of the east gateway. The gateway passage was 87 1⁄2 feet long and 43 3⁄4 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves. ²² The windows, the entry room, and the palm tree decorations were identical to those in the east gateway. There were seven steps leading up to the gateway entrance, and the entry room was at the inner end of the gateway passage. ²³ Here on the north side, just as on the east, there was another gateway leading to the Temple’s inner courtyard directly opposite this outer gateway. The distance between the two gateways was 175 feet.

The South Gateway

²⁴ Then the man took me around to the south gateway and measured its various parts, and they were exactly the same as in the others. ²⁵ It had windows along the walls as the others did, and there was an entry room where the gateway passage opened into the outer courtyard. And like the others, the gateway passage was 87 1⁄2 feet long and 43 3⁄4 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves. ²⁶ This gateway also had a stairway of seven steps leading up to it, and an entry room at the inner end, and palm tree decorations along the dividing walls. ²⁷ And here again, directly opposite the outer gateway, was another gateway that led into the inner courtyard. The distance between the two gateways was 175 feet.

Gateways to the Inner Courtyard

²⁸ Then the man took me to the south gateway leading into the inner courtyard. He measured it, and it had the same measurements as the other gateways. ²⁹ Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and entry room were the same size as those in the others. It also had windows along its walls and in the entry room. And like the others, the gateway passage was 87 1⁄2 feet long and 43 3⁄4 feet wide. ³⁰ (The entry rooms of the gateways leading into the inner courtyard were 14 feet^[q] across and 43 3⁄4 feet wide.) ³¹ The entry room to the south gateway faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance.

³² Then he took me to the east gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it, and it had the same measurements as the other gateways. ³³ Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and entry room were the same size as those of the others, and there were windows along the walls and in the entry room. The gateway passage measured 87 1⁄2 feet long and 43 3⁄4 feet wide. ³⁴ Its entry room faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance.

³⁵ Then he took me around to the north gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it, and it had the same measurements as the other gateways. ³⁶ The guard alcoves, dividing walls, and entry room of this gateway had the same measurements as in the others and the same window arrangements. The gateway passage measured 87 1⁄2 feet long and 43 3⁄4 feet wide. ³⁷ Its entry room^[r] faced into the outer courtyard, and it had palm tree decorations on the columns. There were eight steps leading to its entrance.

Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices

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

Rooms for the Priests

⁴⁴ Inside the inner courtyard were two rooms,^[u] one beside the north gateway, facing south, and the other beside the south^[v] gateway, facing north. ⁴⁵ And the man said to me, “The room beside the north inner gate is for the priests who supervise the Temple maintenance. ⁴⁶ The 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

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. ⁴⁸ Then 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.^{[w] 49} The entry room was 35 feet^[x] wide and 21 feet^[y] deep. There were ten steps^[z] leading up to it, with a column on each side.

41 After that, the man brought me into the sanctuary of the Temple. He measured the walls on either side of its doorway,^[aa] and they were 10 1⁄2 feet^[ab] thick. ² The doorway was 17 1⁄2 feet^[ac] wide, and the walls on each side of it were 8 3⁄4 feet^[ad] long. The sanctuary itself was 70 feet long and 35 feet wide.^[ae]

³ Then he went beyond the sanctuary into the inner room. He measured the walls on either side of its entrance, and they were 3 1⁄2 feet^[af] thick. The entrance was 10 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were 12 1⁄4 feet^[ag] long. ⁴ The inner room of the sanctuary was 35 feet^[ah] long and 35 feet wide. “This,” he told me, “is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the Temple, and it was 10 1⁄2 feet thick. There was a row of rooms along the outside wall; each room was 7 feet^[ai] wide. ⁶ These side rooms were built in three levels, one above the other, with thirty rooms on each level. The supports for these side rooms rested on exterior ledges on the Temple wall; they did not extend into the wall. ⁷ Each level was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway led up from the bottom level through the middle level to the top level.

⁸ I saw that the Temple was built on a terrace, which provided a foundation for the side rooms. This terrace was 10 1⁄2 feet^[aj] high. ⁹ The outer wall of the Temple’s side rooms was 8 3⁄4 feet thick. This left an open area between these side rooms ¹⁰ and the row of rooms along the outer wall of the inner courtyard. This open area was 35 feet wide, and it went all the way around the Temple. ¹¹ Two doors opened from the side rooms into the terrace yard, which was 8 3⁄4 feet wide. One door faced north and the other south.

¹² A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple courtyard. It was 122 1⁄2 feet wide and 157 1⁄2 feet long, and its walls were 8 3⁄4 feet^[ak] thick. ¹³ Then the man measured the Temple, and it was 175 feet^[al] long. The courtyard around the building, including its walls, was an additional 175 feet in length. ¹⁴ The inner courtyard to the east of the Temple was also 175 feet wide. ¹⁵ The building to the west, including its two walls, was also 175 feet wide.

The sanctuary, the inner room, and the entry room of the Temple ¹⁶ were all paneled with wood, as were the frames of the recessed windows. The inner walls of the Temple were paneled with wood above and below the windows. ¹⁷ The space above the door leading into the inner room, and its walls inside and out, were also paneled. ¹⁸ All the walls were decorated with carvings of cherubim, each with two faces, and there was a carving of a palm tree between each of the cherubim. ¹⁹ One face—that of a man—looked toward the palm tree on one side. The other face—that of a young lion—looked toward the palm tree on the other side. The figures were carved all along the inside of the Temple, ²⁰ from the floor to the top of the walls, including the outer wall of the sanctuary.

²¹ There were square columns at the entrance to the sanctuary, and the ones at the entrance of the Most Holy Place were similar. ²² There was an altar made of wood, 5 1⁄4 feet high and 3 1⁄2 feet across.^[am] Its corners, base, and sides were all made of wood. “This,” the man told me, “is the table that stands in the Lord’s presence.”

²³ Both the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doorways, ²⁴ each with two swinging doors. ²⁵ The doors leading into the sanctuary were decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. And there was a wooden roof at the front of the entry room to the Temple. ²⁶ On both sides of the entry room were recessed windows decorated with carved palm trees. The side rooms along the outside wall also had roofs.

Rooms for the Priests

42 Then the man led me out of the Temple courtyard by way of the north gateway. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a group of rooms against the north wall of the inner courtyard. ² This structure, whose entrance opened toward the north, was 175 feet^[an] long and 87 1⁄2 feet^[ao] wide. ³ One block of rooms overlooked the 35-foot^[ap] 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. ⁴ Between the two blocks of rooms ran a walkway 17 1⁄2 feet^[aq] wide. It extended the entire 175 feet of the complex,^[ar] and all the doors faced north. ⁵ Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them. ⁶ Since there were three levels and they did not have supporting columns as in the courtyards, each of the upper levels was set back from the level beneath it. ⁷ There was an outer wall that separated the rooms from the outer courtyard; it was 87 1⁄2 feet long. ⁸ This wall added length to the outer block of rooms, which extended for only 87 1⁄2 feet, while the inner block—the rooms toward the Temple—extended for 175 feet. ⁹ There was an eastern entrance from the outer courtyard to these rooms.

¹⁰ On the south^[as] side of the Temple there were two blocks of rooms just south of the inner courtyard between the Temple and the outer courtyard. These rooms were arranged just like the rooms on the north. ¹¹ There was a walkway between the two blocks of rooms just like the complex on the north side of the Temple. This complex of rooms was the same length and width as the other one, and it had the same entrances and doors. The dimensions of each were identical. ¹² So there was an entrance in the wall facing the doors of the inner block of rooms, and another on the east at the end of the interior walkway.

¹³ Then the man told me, “These rooms that overlook the Temple from the north and south are holy. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. And because these rooms are holy, they will be used to store the sacred offerings—the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. ¹⁴ When the priests leave the sanctuary, they must not go directly to the outer courtyard. They must first take off the clothes they wore while ministering, because these clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before entering the parts of the building complex open to the public.”

¹⁵ When the man had finished measuring the inside of the Temple area, he led me out through the east gateway to measure the entire perimeter. ¹⁶ He measured the east side with his measuring rod, and it was 875 feet long.^{[at] 17} Then he measured the north side, and it was also 875 feet. ¹⁸ The south side was also 875 feet, ¹⁹ and the west side was also 875 feet. ²⁰ So the area was 875 feet on each side with a wall all around it to separate what was holy from what was common.

Discerning False Prophets

4 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. ² This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet^[a] acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. ³ But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

⁴ But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. ⁵ Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. ⁶ But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Loving One Another

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

¹³ And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. ¹⁴ Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ¹⁹ We love each other^[b] because he loved us first.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,^[c] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.^[d]