Ezekiel 42:1-43:12

New International Version

The Rooms for the Priests

42 Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms^(A) opposite the temple courtyard^(B) and opposite the outer wall on the north side.^{(C) 2} The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.^{[a] 3} Both in the section twenty cubits^[b] from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery^(D) faced gallery at the three levels.^{(E) 4} In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits^[c] long.^[d] Their doors were on the north.^{(F) 5} Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building. ⁶ The rooms on the top floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors. ⁷ There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits. ⁸ While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long. ⁹ The lower rooms had an entrance^(G) on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰ On the south side^[e] along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard^(H) and opposite the outer wall, were rooms^{(I) 11} with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north ¹² were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north^(J) and south rooms^(K) facing the temple courtyard^(L) are the priests’ rooms, where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings,^(M) the sin offerings^[f](N) and the guilt offerings^(O)—for the place is holy.^{(P) 14} Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments^(Q) in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people.^(R)”

¹⁵ When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate^(S) and measured the area all around: ¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits.^{[g][h] 17} He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits^[i] by the measuring rod. ¹⁸ He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. ¹⁹ Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. ²⁰ So he measured^(T) the area^(U) on all four sides. It had a wall around it,^(V) five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide,^(W) to separate the holy from the common.^(X)

God’s Glory Returns to the Temple

43 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,^{(Y) 2} and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters,^(Z) and the land was radiant with his glory.^{(AA) 3} The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he^[j] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. ⁴ The glory^(AB) of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east.^{(AC) 5} Then the Spirit^(AD) lifted me up^(AE) and brought me into the inner court, and the glory^(AF) of the Lord filled the temple.^(AG)

⁶ While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. ⁷ He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne^(AH) and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile^(AI) my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the funeral offerings^[k] for their kings at their death.^{[l](AJ) 8} When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.^(AK)

¹⁰ “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed^(AL) of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, ¹¹ and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations^[m] and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.^(AM)

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