Beginning
The New Temple
40 It was the twenty-fifth year [C since King Jehoiachin’s exile (1:2)], at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month [C April 19, 573 bc]. It was in the fourteenth year after ·Jerusalem was captured [L the city was struck down]. On that same day ·I felt the power of the Lord [L the hand of the Lord was upon me], and he brought me to Jerusalem. 2 In the visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel and put me down on a very high mountain. On the south of the mountain there were some buildings that looked like a city. 3 He took me closer to the buildings, and ·I saw [L look; T behold] a man ·who looked as if he were made of [whose appearance was like] bronze, standing in the gateway. He had a cord made of linen and a stick in his hand, both for measuring. 4 The man said to me, “·Human [T Son of man; 2:1], look with your eyes and hear with your ears. ·Pay attention to [L Set your heart upon] all that I will show you, because that’s why you have been brought here. Tell the ·people [L house] of Israel all that you see.”
The East Gateway
5 ·I saw [L And look/T behold] a wall that surrounded the ·Temple area [L house]. The measuring ·stick [rod] in the man’s hand was ·ten and one-half feet long [L six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth; C a regular cubit was eighteen inches long; this long cubit was about twenty-one inches long]. So the man measured the wall, which was ·ten and one-half feet [L six long cubits] thick and ·ten and one-half feet [L one rod/stick] high.
6 Then the man went to the east gateway. He went up its steps and measured the opening of the gateway. It was ·ten and one-half feet [L one rod/stick; v. 5] deep. 7 The ·rooms for the guards [alcoves] were ·ten and one-half feet [L one rod/stick] long and ·ten and one-half feet [L one rod/stick] wide. ·The walls that came out between the guards’ rooms [L Between the alcoves] were ·about nine feet [L five cubits; v. 5] thick. The ·opening [threshold] of the gateway next to the ·porch [portico] that faced the Temple was ·ten and one-half feet [L one rod/stick] deep.
8 Then the man measured the porch of the gateway. 9 It was ·about fourteen feet [L eight cubits] deep, and its ·side walls [or jambs] were ·three and one-half feet [L two cubits] thick. The ·porch [portico] of the gateway faced the Temple.
10 On each side of the east gateway were three ·rooms [alcoves], which ·measured the same on each side [had the same measurement]. The ·walls between each room [dividing walls; or jambs] ·were the same thickness [or had the same measurement]. 11 The man measured the width of the entrance to the gateway, which was ·seventeen and one-half feet [L ten cubits; v. 5] wide. The ·width [or length] of the gate was ·about twenty-three feet [L thirteen cubits]. 12 And there was a low ·wall [barrier] ·about twenty-one inches [L one cubit] high in front of each ·room [alcove]. The ·rooms [alcoves] were ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] on each side. 13 The man measured the gateway from the roof of one ·room [alcove] to the roof of the opposite one. It was ·about forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] from one door to the opposite door. 14 The man also measured the ·porch [or jambs], which was ·about thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] wide. The courtyard was around the ·porch [or jamb; C the meaning of this verse is uncertain]. 15 From the front of the ·outer side of the [entrance] gateway to the front of the porch of the ·inner side of the [inner] gateway was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits]. 16 The ·rooms [alcoves] and porch had small windows on both sides. The windows were narrower on the side facing the gateway. Carvings of palm trees were on each side wall of the rooms.
The Outer Courtyard
17 Then the man brought me into the outer courtyard ·where I saw [L and look/T behold] rooms and a pavement of stones all around the court. Thirty rooms ·were along the edge of [faced] the paved walkway. 18 The pavement ran alongside the gates and was as deep as the gates were wide. This was the lower pavement. 19 Then the man measured from the ·outer wall [front of the lower gate] to the ·inner wall [L exterior face of the inner court]. The outer court between these two walls was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] on the east and on the north.
The North Gateway
20 The man measured the length and width of the north gateway leading to the outer courtyard. 21 Its three ·rooms [alcoves] on each side, its ·inner walls [or jambs], and its ·porch [portico] measured the same as the first gateway. It was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long and ·forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] wide. 22 Its windows, ·porch [portico], and carvings of palm trees measured the same as the east gateway. Seven steps went up to the gateway, and the gateway’s ·porch [portico] was at the inner end. 23 The inner courtyard had a gateway across from the northern gateway like the one on the east. The man measured it and found it was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] from inner gateway to outer gateway.
The South Gateway
24 Then the man led me south ·where I saw [L and look/T behold] a gateway facing south. He measured its ·inner walls [or jambs] and its ·porch [portico], and they measured the same as the other gateways. 25 The gateway and its porch had windows all around like the other gateways. It was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long and ·forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] wide. 26 Seven steps went up to this gateway. Its porch was at the inner end, and it had carvings of palm trees on its inner walls. 27 The inner courtyard had a gateway on its south side. The man measured from gate to gate on the south side, which was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits].
The Inner Courtyard
28 Then the man brought me through the south gateway into the inner courtyard. The inner south gateway measured the same as the gateways in the outer wall. 29 The inner south gateway’s ·rooms [alcoves], ·inner walls [or jambs], and ·porch [portico] measured the same as the gateways in the outer wall. There were windows all around the gateway and its porch. The gateway was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long and ·forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] wide. 30 Each porch of each inner gateway was ·about forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] long and ·about nine feet [L five cubits] wide. 31 The inner south gateway’s ·porch [portico] faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its ·side walls [or jambs], and its stairway had eight steps.
32 The man brought me into the inner courtyard on the east side. He measured the inner east gateway, and it was the same as the other gateways. 33 The inner east gateway’s ·rooms [alcoves], ·inside walls [or jambs], and ·porch [portico] measured the same as the other gateways. Windows were all around the gateway and its ·porch [portico]. The inner east gateway was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long and ·forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] wide. 34 Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its ·inner walls [or jambs] on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.
35 Then the man brought me to the inner north gateway. He measured it, and it was the same as the other gateways. 36 Its ·rooms [alcoves], ·inside walls [or jambs], and ·porch [portico] measured the same as the other gateways. There were windows all around the gateway, which was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long and ·forty-four feet [L twenty-five cubits] wide. 37 Its ·porch [portico] faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inner walls on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.
Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices
38 There was a room with a door that opened onto the ·porch [portico] of the inner north gateway. ·In this room the priests washed animals for the burnt offerings [L …where the burnt offering was washed; Lev. 1:1–17]. 39 There were two tables on each side of the ·porch [portico], on which animals for burnt offerings, ·sin [or purification] offerings [Lev. 4:3], and ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offerings [Lev. 5:14—6:7] were killed. 40 Outside, by each side wall of the ·porch [portico], at the entrance to the north gateway, were two more tables. 41 So there were four tables inside the gateway, and four tables outside. In all there were eight tables on which ·the priests killed animals for sacrifices [L to slaughter]. 42 There were four tables made of cut stone for the burnt offering [Lev. 1:1–17]. These tables were ·about three feet [L a cubit and a half] long, ·three feet [L a cubit and a half] wide, and ·about two feet [L a cubit] high. On these tables the priests put their tools which they used to kill animals for burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. 43 Double shelves[a] ·three inches [L one handbreadth] wide were put up on all the walls. The flesh for the offering was put on the tables.
The Priests’ Rooms
44 There were two rooms in the inner courtyard. One was beside the north gateway and faced south. The other room was beside the south gateway and faced north. 45 The man said to me, “The room which faces south is for the priests who ·serve in [or guard; or have charge of] the Temple area, 46 while the room that faces north is for the priests who ·serve at [or guard; or have charge of] the altar. This second group of priests are descendants of Zadok, the only descendants of Levi who can come near the Lord to ·serve [minister to] him.”
47 The man measured the inner courtyard. It was a square—·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long and ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] wide. The altar was in front of the Temple.
The Temple Porch
48 The man brought me to the ·porch [portico] of the Temple and measured each ·side wall [or jamb] of the ·porch [portico]. Each was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] thick. The doorway was ·twenty-four and one-half feet [L fourteen cubits] wide. The side walls of the doorway were each ·about five feet [L three cubits] wide. 49 The ·porch [portico] was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] long and ·twenty-one feet [L twelve cubits] wide, with ten steps leading up to it. Pillars were by the ·side walls [or jambs], one on each side of the entrance.
The Holy Place of the Temple
41 The man brought me to the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall] and measured its ·side walls [or jambs], which were each ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] thick. 2 The entrance was ·seventeen and one-half feet [L ten cubits] wide. The walls alongside the entrance were each ·about nine feet wide [L five cubits]. The man measured the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall], which was ·seventy feet [L forty cubits] long and ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] wide.
3 Then the man went ·inside [into the inner sanctuary] and measured the ·side walls [or jambs] of the next doorway. Each was ·three and one-half feet [L two cubits] thick. The doorway was ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] wide, and the walls next to it were each more than ·twelve [L seven cubits] feet thick. 4 Then the man measured the room ·at the end of [or adjacent to] the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall]. It was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] long and ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] long wide. The man said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
5 Then the man measured the wall of the ·Temple [L house], which was ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] thick. There were side rooms ·seven feet [L four cubits] wide all around the Temple. 6 The side rooms were on three different stories, each above the other, with thirty rooms on each story. All around the Temple walls there were ledges for the side rooms. The upper rooms rested on the ledges but were not attached to the Temple walls. 7 The side rooms around the Temple were wider on each higher story, so rooms were wider on the top story. ·A stairway went [or So one went] up from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story.
8 I also saw that the Temple had a raised ·base [platform] all around. Its edge was the foundation for the side rooms, and it was ·ten and one-half feet thick [L a full rod/stick of six cubits]. 9 The outer wall of the side rooms was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the Temple 10 and some other rooms. It was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] wide and went all around the Temple. 11 The side rooms had doors which led to the open area around the outside of the Temple. One door faced north, and the other faced south. The open area was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] wide all around.
12 The building facing the ·private area [temple courtyard] at the west side was ·one hundred twenty-two and one-half feet [L seventy cubits] wide. The wall around the building was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] thick and ·one hundred fifty-seven and one-half feet [L ninety cubits] long.
13 Then the man measured the Temple. It was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. The ·private area [temple courtyard], including the building and its walls, was in all ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. 14 Also the front of the Temple and the ·private area [courtyard] on its east side were ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] wide.
15 The man measured the length of the building facing the ·private area [courtyard] ·on the west side [or at the rear], and it was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] ·from one wall to the other [or with its galleries on each side].
The ·Holy Place, the Most Holy Place [or interior of the outer sanctuary/main hall], and the outer porch 16 had wood panels on the walls. By the ·doorway [thresholds], the Temple had wood panels on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor up to the windows, 17 up to the part of the wall above the entrance.
All the walls inside the ·Most Holy Place and the Holy Place [inner and outer sanctuary], and on the outside, in the ·porch [portico], 18 had carvings of ·creatures with wings [L cherubim] and palm trees. A palm tree was between each ·carved creature [L cherub], and every ·creature [L cherub] had two faces. 19 One was a human face looking toward the palm tree on one side. The other was a lion’s face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all around the Temple walls. 20 From the floor to above the entrance, palm trees and ·creatures with wings [L cherubim] were carved. The walls of the Holy Place 21 had square doorposts. In front of the ·Most Holy Place [sanctuary] was something that looked like 22 an altar of wood. It was more than ·five feet [L three cubits] high and ·three feet [L two cubits] wide. Its corners, base, and sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is ·in the presence of [before] the Lord.” 23 Both the ·Holy Place [main hall; outer sanctuary] and the ·Most Holy Place [inner sanctuary] had double doors. 24 Each of the doors had two ·pieces [leaves] that would swing open. Two for one and two for the other. 25 Carved on the doors of the ·Holy Place [main hall; outer sanctuary] were palm trees and ·creatures with wings [L cherubim], like those carved on the walls. And there was a wood ·roof [canopy] over the front Temple ·porch [portico]. 26 There were narrow windows and palm trees on both side walls of the ·porch [portico]. The side rooms of the Temple were also covered by a ·roof [canopy] over the stairway.
The Priests’ Rooms
42 Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard and to the rooms across from the ·private area [temple courtyard] and the building. 2 These rooms on the north side were ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long and ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] wide. 3 There was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] of the inner courtyard between them and the Temple. On the other side, they faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The rooms were built in three stories like steps ·and had balconies [with gallery facing gallery]. 4 There was a ·path [passageway; walkway] in front of the rooms on the inner side, which was ·seventeen and one-half feet [L ten cubits] wide and ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. The entrances to the rooms were on the north. 5 The ·top [upper] rooms were narrower, because the ·balconies [galleries] 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 [upper] 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 ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits]. 8 The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long, and the rooms that faced the ·Temple [main hall; sanctuary] were ·about one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. 9 The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side so a person could enter them from the outer courtyard, 10 at the start of the wall beside the courtyard [C some interpret this phrase as beginning the next sentence].
There were rooms on the south side, which were across from the ·private area [Temple courtyard] and the building. 11 These rooms had a path in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north with the same length and width and the same exits, measurements and doors. 12 The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was an entrance at the ·open end [or beginning] of a path beside the wall, so a person could enter at the east end.
13 The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the ·private area [courtyard] are holy rooms. There the priests who ·go near [approach] the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the ·grain [L gift; tribute] offerings [Lev. 2:1], ·sin [or purification] offerings [Lev. 4:3], and the ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offerings [Lev. 5:14–6:7], because the place is holy. 14 The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave ·their serving clothes [garments in which they minister] there before they go into the outer courtyard, because these ·clothes [garments] are holy. After they put on other ·clothes [garments], they may go to the part of the Temple area which is for the people.”
Outside the Temple Area
15 When the man finished measuring inside the Temple area, he brought me out through the east gateway. He measured the area all around. 16 The man measured the east side with the measuring stick; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring ·stick [rod]. 17 He measured the north side; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 18 He measured the south side; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 19 He went around to the west side; it measured ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 20 So he measured the Temple area on all four sides. The Temple area had a wall all around it that was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet long [L five hundred cubits] and ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] wide. It separated what was holy from ·that which was not holy [the common/profane; C ritually].
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