Beginning

A vision of the temple

40 In the 25th year that we had been prisoners in Babylon, the Lord took hold of me with great power. It happened on the tenth day of the first month of the year. It was 14 years since Babylonian soldiers had destroyed the city of Jerusalem. In a vision, the Lord took me there. ² In the vision, he took me to the land of Israel. He put me on a very high mountain. When I looked towards the south, I saw a group of buildings that looked like a city. ³ The Lord took me there. Then I saw a man who shone brightly like bronze. He was standing at the entrance of a building. He held a linen rope and a stick in his hand. He used them to measure things. ⁴ The man said to me, ‘Son of man, watch and listen carefully to me. Remember everything that I will show you. God has brought you here so that I can show these things to you. Tell Israel's people about everything that you see.’

The east gate

⁵ I saw a wall all the way round the place where the temple was. The stick in the man's hand was 3 metres long. He used it to measure the wall. The wall was 3 metres wide and 3 metres high.

⁶ Then he went to the gate on the east side. He climbed its steps and he measured the size of the entrance. It was 3 metres deep. ⁷ Beyond this was a passage with three rooms on each side. They were rooms for the guards. Each of these rooms was 3 metres long and 3 metres wide. The walls between the rooms were 2½ metres thick. Beyond them was a passage that was 3 metres long. This went to an entrance room to the yard of the temple. ⁸ The man measured the entrance room at the end of the passage. ⁹ It was 4 metres long. It had pillars that were 1 metre thick. It was the nearest part of the gate to the temple. ¹⁰ The three rooms on each side of the passage at the east gate were all the same size. The walls that were between each room were also the same size.

¹¹ Then the man measured the passage that went through the gate's entrance. The passage was 6½ metres wide. The gate's entrance itself was 5 metres wide. ¹² There was a low wall in front of the rooms on each side of the passage. It was ½ metre high. The rooms were 3 metres square. ¹³ The man also measured between the back wall of one room and the back wall of the room opposite. It was 12½ metres from one wall to the other wall, across the passage. ¹⁴ The entrance room had pillars on the outside that were 30 metres high. The yard was all around three sides of the room. ¹⁵ The passage was 25 metres long, from the gate at the front to the entrance room into the yard. ¹⁶ The rooms for the guards all had small windows in their outside walls. The walls between the rooms also had small windows. The entrance room to the yard also had windows of the same kind. Men had cut pictures of palm trees on the inside walls of the passage.^[a]

The outside yard

¹⁷ The man took me through the entrance gate into the outside yard of the temple. I saw 30 rooms there, all along the wall of the yard. A path of flat stones was in front of the rooms. ¹⁸ The path went all around the yard and it covered the space between the gates. It was called the lower path.

¹⁹ The man measured across the outside yard. He measured from the lower gate to the higher gate that went into the inside yard. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The north gate

²⁰ Then the man measured the gate on the north side of the outside yard. ²¹ He measured the three rooms on each side of the passage and the walls between them. He also measured the entrance room itself. They all measured the same as those in the east gate. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and it was 12½ metres wide. ²² The entrance room, the windows and the pictures of palm trees were the same as those in the east gate. Seven steps went up to the north gate. The entrance room into the yard was at the end of the passage. ²³ Opposite this gate, across the yard, was the gate to the inside yard. It was the same as on the east side. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The south gate

²⁴ Next, the man took me to the south side of the yard. I saw another gate there. The man measured the walls and the rooms in that entrance. They were the same size as the other walls and rooms. ²⁵ The rooms in this entrance had windows that were the same as those in the other entrances. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and it was 12½ metres wide. ²⁶ Seven steps went up to it. The entrance room to the yard was at the end of the passage. There were pictures of palm trees on the inside walls of the passage. ²⁷ The inside yard of the temple also had a gate on the south side. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The south gate of the inside yard

²⁸ The man took me through the south gate into the inside yard. He measured the gate. It was the same size as the gates in the outside wall. ²⁹ The rooms for the guards, the walls between them and theentrance room were the same size as the ones at the other gates. There were windows along its walls and in the entrance room. As at the other gates, the whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁰ The entrance rooms around the inside yard were 12½ metres wide and 2½ metres long. ³¹ The entrance room of this gate opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage. Eight steps went up to this gate.

The east gate of the inside yard

³² The man took me to the east side the inside yard. He measured the gate. It was the same size as the other gates. ³³ The rooms for the guards, the walls between them and theentrance room were the same size as the ones at the other gates. There were windows along its walls and in the entrance room. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁴ The entrance room of this gate opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage. Eight steps went up to this gate.

The north gate of the inside yard

³⁵ Then the man took me to the north gate. He measured it. It was the same size as the other gates, ³⁶ with rooms for the guards, their walls and an entrance room with windows. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁷ The door of the entrance room opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage, on both sides. Eight steps went up to this gate.

Buildings near the north gate

³⁸ There was a small building joined to the entrance room of the north gate. There was a door between this building and the entrance room. In that building, the priests washed the dead bodies of animals for burnt offerings. ³⁹ In the entrance room there were four tables, two on each side of the room. They killed the animals for sacrifices on these tables. They were animals for burnt offerings and also for sin offerings and for guilt offerings.

⁴⁰ There were four more tables outside the entrance room of the north gate. Two tables were on each side of the steps at the entrance. ⁴¹ So there were eight tables on which they killed animals for sacrifices. Four tables were in the yard outside the entrance. Four tables were inside the entrance room. ⁴² They had used stone to make four tables for the burnt offerings. These tables were 50 centimetres high. Their tops were 75 centimetres square. They put the knives and the other tools that they used to kill the animals on these tables. ⁴³ They put the meat for the offerings on the stone tables. There were hooks all around the inside walls of the room. Each hook was 7½ centimetres long.

⁴⁴ There were two rooms for singers that had doors to the inside yard. One was beside the north gate and its door opened towards the south. The other room was beside the south gate and its door opened towards the north. ⁴⁵ The man said to me, ‘The room beside the north gate is for the priests who take care of the temple. ⁴⁶ The room beside the south gate is for the priests who serve God at the altar. These priests are descendants of Zadok.^[b] They are the only descendants of Levi who may come near to the Lord to serve him.’

⁴⁷ The man measured the inside yard. It was square, 50 metres long and 50 metres wide. There was an altar in front of the temple.

The temple building

⁴⁸ The man took me into the entrance room of the temple building. He measured the walls on each side of the entrance. They were 2½ metres thick. The entrance was 7 metres wide. The walls on each side of the entrance were 1½ metres wide. ⁴⁹ The entrance room was 10 metres wide and 6 metres long. Steps went up to the entrance room. There were two pillars, one on each side of the entrance.

41 Then the man took me into the big hall of the temple.^[c] He measured the walls on each side of the entrance. They were 3 metres thick. ² The entrance itself was 5 metres wide. The walls on each side were 2½ metres wide. The big hall was 20 metres long and 10 metres wide.

³ Then he went into the inside room. He measured the walls at the entrance. They were 1 metre thick. The entrance was 3 metres wide. The walls on each side were 3½ metres wide. ⁴ He measured the inside room. It was 10 metres long and 10 metres wide. It was at the back of the big hall. The man said to me, ‘This is the Most Holy Place.’^[d]

⁵ Then the man measured the wall of the temple. It was 3 metres thick. There were small rooms along the outside of the wall, all around the temple. Each room was 2 metres wide. ⁶ The side rooms were on three levels. Each level had 30 rooms. The temple's wall at each level was less thick than the wall below. So the wall itself held up each level of rooms. They did not have to fix the side rooms into the temple's wall. ⁷ The side rooms at each level were wider than the rooms on the level below them, because the temple's wall was less thick. There was a set of stairs that went from the lowest level to the middle level and up to the top level.

⁸ I saw that there was a stone base all around the temple. The side rooms stood on this base as their foundation. It was 3 metres high. ^9-10 The outside wall of the side rooms was 2½ metres thick. There was an open space between these rooms and the rooms that the priests used. It was 10 metres wide, all around the temple building. ¹¹ There were two doors for the side rooms. One door opened towards the north. The other door opened towards the south. They opened into a space that was 2½ metres wide.^[e]

¹² There was a large building at the west side of the temple yard. It was 37 metres wide and 47 metres long. Its walls were 2½ metres thick.

¹³ Then the man measured the outside of the temple building. It was 50 metres long. He measured from the back of the temple across the open space to the back wall of the large building. That was also 50 metres. ¹⁴ He measured the front of the temple building and the open space on each side. That was 50 metres too. ¹⁵ He measured the building at the back of the temple yard, on the west side. That was also 50 metres, including the side rooms at each end.

Wooden boards covered the walls of the big hall, the inside room and the entrance room of the temple. ¹⁶ The boards covered the walls from the floor up to the windows, and above the windows. They used wood to make the edges of the windows. They also covered the windows. ^17-18 Workers had cut pictures in the wood above the doors and all over the walls. They were pictures of palm trees and cherubs. There was a picture of a palm tree between each cherub. They covered all the inside walls of the temple. Each cherub had two faces. ¹⁹ A human face looked towards the palm tree on one side. A lion's face looked towards the palm tree on the other side. Workers had cut these pictures on the walls around the inside of the whole temple building. ²⁰ The pictures of cherubs and palm trees covered all the walls, from the floor up to above the doors.

²¹ There were square posts on each side of the entrance to the temple's big hall. The entrance to the Most Holy Place seemed the same.

²² There was an altar that was made of wood. It was 1½ metres high and 1 metre wide on each side. Its corners, its sides and its base were all made of wood. The man said to me, ‘This is the table that stands here in front of the Lord.’

²³ The big hall of the temple and the Most Holy Place both had doors that were in two parts. ²⁴ The doors were fixed on both sides of each entrance and they opened in the middle. ²⁵ Workers had cut pictures on the doors of the big hall. They were pictures of palm trees and cherubs, like the pictures on the walls. There was a roof over the outside of the door to the entrance room. It was made of wood. ²⁶ The entrance room had narrow windows in the walls on each side. The windows had pictures of palm trees on each side. Workers had cut shapes of palm trees on its walls. The side rooms around the temple also had roofs over the outside of their doors.

Two buildings near the temple

42 Then the man took me out through the north gate of the inside yard of the temple. We went into the outside yard. We arrived at a building that was in the north wall of the inside yard. ² This building was 50 metres long and 25 metres wide. Its entrance was towards the north. ³ There was a 10 metre space between one side of this building and the temple in the inside yard. The building's other side was opposite the path in the outside yard. It had three levels of rooms in two rows that were opposite each other. ⁴ A path went between the two rows of rooms. It was 50 metres long and 5 metres wide. The entrances to the rooms were on the north side. ⁵ The rooms at the top level were not as wide as the rooms below them. And the rooms at the middle level were not as wide as the rooms at the lowest level. This was because the higher rooms needed more space in front of them. ⁶ They did not have pillars to hold them up as other rooms in the temple yards did. Instead, the walls of the lower rooms held up the rooms above them. So the rooms of each level were smaller than the rooms below them. ⁷ There was a wall that went across the outside yard in front of the lowest rooms. The wall was 25 metres long. ⁸ The row of rooms in the outside yard was also 25 metres long. But the other row of rooms in the inside yard, opposite the temple, was 50 metres long. ⁹ The lowest level of rooms had an entrance from the outside yard at the east end of the building. ¹⁰ This entrance was at the end of the wall in the outside yard.

There was another building like this one on the south side of the temple. It was opposite the other building and it also had two rows of rooms. ¹¹ There was path between the two rows. They looked the same as the rooms on the north side. The size of the rooms and the entrances were the same as those of the other building. ¹² There was an entrance in the wall opposite the doors of the inside row of rooms. There was also an entrance at the east end of the path between the rows of rooms.

¹³ Then the man said to me, ‘These rooms that are on the north and south sides of the temple's inside yard are holy. They are for the priests who serve the Lord in his temple. In these rooms, the priests will eat the most holy sacrifices that they offer to the Lord. They will put the most holy offerings there. It is where they will put the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings. The priests will do that because the rooms are holy.

¹⁴ When the priests go into the holy place of the temple, they must not leave until they change their clothes. Before they go into the outside yard, they must take off the special clothes that they wear to serve the Lord. Those clothes are holy, so they must put on other clothes. Then they can go out to the places where the people meet.’

¹⁵ The man finished measuring everything inside the place where the temple was. Then he took me out through the east gate. He measured all around the outside of the temple yards. ¹⁶ He used his stick to measure the wall on the east side. It was 250 metres. ^17-19 Then he measured the north side and the south side and the west side. Each side measured the same as the east side. ²⁰ So the wall made a square around the place where the temple was. Each side was 250 metres. The wall made the holy place separate from the ordinary places around it.