He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood.

Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall.

He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.

Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord.

The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

The East Gate to the Outer Court

I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. The length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the wall; it was one measuring rod thick and one rod high.

He measured along the faces of the projecting walls all around the inside of the gateway—sixty cubits. The measurement was up to the portico facing the courtyard.

The Outer Court

Then he brought me into the outer court. There I saw some rooms and a pavement that had been constructed all around the court; there were thirty rooms along the pavement.

Then he measured the distance from the inside of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north.

The North Gate

Then he measured the length and width of the north gate, leading into the outer court.

There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured from one gate to the opposite one; it was a hundred cubits.

The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured from this gate to the outer gate on the south side; it was a hundred cubits.

The Gates to the Inner Court

Then he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others.

(The porticoes of the gateways around the inner court were twenty-five cubits wide and five cubits deep.)

Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated its jambs, and eight steps led up to it.

Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others.

Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.

Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.

The Rooms for the Priests

Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two rooms, one at the side of the north gate and facing south, and another at the side of the south gate and facing north.

Then he measured the court: It was square—a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.

The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.

The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.