Chronological

42 Then the man [an angel] brought me forth into the outer court northward, and he brought me to the attached chambers that were opposite the temple yard and were opposite the building on the north.

² Before the long side of one hundred cubits was the door toward the north, and the breadth was fifty cubits.

³ Adjoining the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was balcony facing balcony in three stories.

⁴ And before the attached chambers was a walk inward of ten cubits breadth and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north.

⁵ Now the upper chambers were shorter, for the balconies took off from these more than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.

⁶ For they were in three stories, but did not have pillars as the pillars of the [outer] court; therefore the upper chambers were set back more than the lower and the middle ones from the ground.

⁷ And the wall or fence that was outside, opposite and parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, was fifty cubits long,

⁸ For the length of the [combined] chambers that were on the outer court was fifty cubits, while [the length] of those opposite the temple was a hundred cubits.

⁹ And under these chambers was the entrance on the east side, as one approached them from the outer court.

¹⁰ In the breadth of the wall of the court going toward the east, before the yard and before the building, were the chambers

¹¹ With a passage before them that gave the appearance of the attached chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with similar exits and arrangements and doors.

¹² And like the doors of the chambers that were toward the south there was an entrance at the head of the way, the way before the dividing wall toward the east, as one enters them.

¹³ Then said the man [an angel] to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the yard, are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there shall they lay the most holy things—the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass or guilt offering—for the place is holy.

¹⁴ When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court unless they lay aside there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy, separate, and set apart. They shall put on other garments before they approach that which is for the people.

¹⁵ Now when he had finished measuring the inner temple area, he brought me forth toward the gate which faces east and measured it [the outer area] round about.

¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

¹⁷ He measured the north side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

¹⁸ He measured the south side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

¹⁹ He turned about to the west side and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

²⁰ He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall round about, the length five hundred reeds and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy [the temple proper] and that which was common [the outer area].

43 Afterward the man [an angel] brought me to the gate, the gate that faces east.

² And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.^(A)

³ And the vision which I saw was like the vision I had seen when I came to foretell the destruction of the city and like the vision I had seen beside the river Chebar [near Babylon]; and I fell on my face.^(B)

⁴ And the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east.

⁵ Then the Spirit caught me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶ And I heard One speaking to me out of the temple, and a Man stood by me.

⁷ And He [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever; and My holy name the house of Israel shall no more profane, neither they nor their kings, by their [idolatrous] harlotry, nor by the dead bodies and monuments of their kings,

⁸ Nor by setting their threshold by My thresholds and their doorposts by My doorposts, with a mere wall between Me and them. They have profaned My holy name by their abominations which they have committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

⁹ Now let them put away their [idolatrous] harlotry and the dead bodies and monuments of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰ Son of man, show the temple by your description of it to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure accurately its appearance and plan.

¹¹ And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the temple and the arrangement of it—its exits and its entrances and the whole form of it—all its ordinances and all its forms and all its laws. And write it down in their sight so that they may keep the whole form of it and all the ordinances of it and do them.

¹² This is the law of the house [of the Lord]: The whole area round about on the top of the mountain ^[a][Mount Moriah] shall be most holy, separated, and set apart. Behold, this is the law of the house [of the Lord].

¹³ And these are the measurements of the altar [of burnt offering] in cubits. The cubit is a royal cubit [the length of a forearm and a palm of the hand]; the bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim or lip round about it of a span’s breadth. And this shall be the height of the altar:

¹⁴ From the bottom or gutter on the ground to the lower ledge or brim shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.

¹⁵ And the altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and from the altar hearth reaching upward there shall be four horns one cubit high.

¹⁶ And the altar hearth shall be square—twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in its four sides.

¹⁷ And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits broad on its four sides, and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and wide, and its ascent [not steps] shall face the east.^(C)

¹⁸ And [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the regulations for the use of the altar in the day that it is erected, upon which to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood against it:

¹⁹ You shall give to the priests, the Levites who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to Me to minister to Me, says the Lord God, a young bull for a sin offering.

²⁰ And you shall take of its blood and put it on the four horns of [the altar of burnt offering] and on the four corners of the ledge and on the rim or border round about. Thus shall you cleanse and make atonement for [the altar].

²¹ You shall also take the bullock of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sacred enclosure.^(D)

²² And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. Thus the altar shall be cleansed, as it was cleansed with the bullock.

²³ When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

²⁴ And you shall bring them near before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵ Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; also a young bull and a ram out of the flock, without blemish, shall be prepared.

²⁶ For seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so the priests shall consecrate, separate, and set it apart to receive offerings.^(E)

²⁷ And when these days have been accomplished, on the eighth day and from then on, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings upon the altar and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord God.^(F)