² “Go to the Rekabite^(A) family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms^(B) of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”

²⁶ But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries^(A) in the house of God.

⁵ Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.^{(A) 6} The lowest floor was five cubits^[a] wide, the middle floor six cubits^[b] and the third floor seven.^[c] He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

⁴ In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits^[a] long.^[b] Their doors were on the north.^{(A) 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^(B) on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰ On the south side^[c] along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard^(C) and opposite the outer wall, were rooms^{(D) 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^(E) and south rooms^(F) facing the temple courtyard^(G) 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,^(H) the sin offerings^[d](I) and the guilt offerings^(J)—for the place is holy.^(K)

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits^[a] wide. ⁶ The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty^(A) on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple.^{(B) 7} The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway^(C) went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.

⁸ I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits. ⁹ The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple ¹⁰ and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. ¹¹ There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around.

¹⁶ The alcoves and the projecting walls inside the gateway were surmounted by narrow parapet openings all around, as was the portico; the openings all around faced inward. The faces of the projecting walls were decorated with palm trees.^(A)

⁷ The alcoves^(A) for the guards were one rod long and one rod wide, and the projecting walls between the alcoves were five cubits^[a] thick. And the threshold of the gate next to the portico facing the temple was one rod deep.

⁸ Then he measured the portico of the gateway; ⁹ it^[b] was eight cubits^[c] deep and its jambs were two cubits^[d] thick. The portico of the gateway faced the temple.

¹⁰ Inside the east gate were three alcoves on each side; the three had the same measurements, and the faces of the projecting walls on each side had the same measurements. ¹¹ Then he measured the width of the entrance of the gateway; it was ten cubits and its length was thirteen cubits.^{[e] 12} In front of each alcove was a wall one cubit high, and the alcoves were six cubits square. ¹³ Then he measured the gateway from the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits^[f] from one parapet opening to the opposite one.

⁸ We have obeyed everything our forefather^(A) Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine