Ezekiel 42

International Children’s Bible

The Priests’ Rooms

42 Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard. He led me to the rooms across from the Temple courtyard. The outer wall was north of these rooms. ² The building on the north side was 175 feet long and 87½ feet wide. ³ There was 35 feet of the Temple courtyard between this building and the Temple. On the other side, this building faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The building had rooms and balconies on three stories. ⁴ There was a hallway on the north side of the rooms. It was 17½ feet wide and 175 feet long. Doors led into the rooms from this hallway. ⁵ The top rooms were narrower. This was because the balconies took more space from them. The rooms on the first and second stories of the building were wider. ⁶ The rooms were on three stories. They did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards. So the top rooms were farther back than those on the first and second stories. ⁷ There was a wall outside parallel to the rooms and to the outer courtyard. It ran in front of the rooms for 87½ feet. ⁸ The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was 87½ feet long. The rooms that faced the Temple were about 175 feet long. ⁹ The lower rooms had an entrance on the east end of the building. This was so a person could enter them from the courtyard.

¹⁰ There were rooms on the south side, parallel to the wall of the outer courtyard. They faced the Temple courtyard. ¹¹ These rooms had a hallway in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north. They had the same length and width. And the doors were the same. ¹² The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was a door at the east end of a hall. This hall went to all the rooms.

¹³ The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the Temple courtyard are holy rooms. There the priests who go near the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the grain offerings, sin offerings and the penalty offerings. ¹⁴ The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave their serving clothes there. Then they may go into the outer courtyard. This is because these clothes are holy. The priests must put on other clothes. Then they may go to the part of the Temple which is for the people.”

The Outside of the Temple

¹⁵ The man finished measuring inside the Temple. Then he brought me out through the east gate. He measured the area all around. ¹⁶ The man measured the east side with the measuring stick. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁷ He measured the north side. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁸ He measured the south side. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁹ He went around to the west side. And it measured 875 feet by the measuring stick. ²⁰ So he measured the Temple on all four sides. The Temple had a wall all around it. It was 875 feet long and 875 feet wide. It separated the holy from that which is not holy.