The Daily Audio Bible

²⁸ Then the man (angel) brought me to the inner courtyard by the south gate; and he measured the south gate according to those same measurements. ²⁹ Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches ^[a]measured the same as the others. And the gate and its porches had windows all around; the length was fifty cubits and the width was twenty-five cubits. ³⁰ There were porches all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. ³¹ Its porches faced the outer courtyard; and palm tree decorations were [carved] on its side pillars, and its stairway had eight steps.

³² He brought me into the inner courtyard toward the east, and he measured the gate; it measured the same as the others. ³³ Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches measured the same as the others. The gate and its porches had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴ Its porches faced the outer courtyard; and palm tree decorations were [carved] on either side of its side pillars, and its stairway had eight steps.

³⁵ Then he brought me to the north gate and he measured it; the measurements were the same as those of the other gates, ³⁶ with its guardrooms, its side pillars, its porches; and the gate had windows all around. The length was fifty cubits and the width was twenty-five cubits. ³⁷ Its side pillars faced the outer courtyard, and palm tree decorations were [carved] on them on either side. And its stairway had eight steps.

³⁸ A chamber with its doorway was by the side pillars of the gates; there the burnt offering was to be washed. ³⁹ In the porch (portico) of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. ⁴⁰ On the outer ^[b]side, as one went up to the ^[c]gateway toward the north, were two tables; and on the other ^[d]side of the porch of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ Four tables were on each ^[e]side next to the gate; [a total of] eight tables on which they slaughter sacrifices. ⁴² Moreover, there were four tables of hewn stone (ashlar) for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which they lay the instruments with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice. ⁴³ The double hooks, one hand width in length were installed in the ^[f]house all around. The meat of the offering was [to be placed] on the tables.

⁴⁴ From the outside to the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner courtyard, one of which was ^[g]beside the north gate, with its front toward the south, and one ^[h]beside the ^[i]south gate facing toward the north. ⁴⁵ He [who was guiding me] said to me, “This is the chamber which faces toward the south; it is for the priests who have the responsibility and take care of the temple; ⁴⁶ but the chamber which faces toward the north is for the priests who have the responsibility and take care of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who [alone] from the sons of Levi come near to the Lord to minister to Him.” ⁴⁷ He measured the courtyard, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide, a perfect square; and the altar was in front of the temple.

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the porch of the temple, and he measured each side pillar of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on each side. ⁴⁹ The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits; and at the stairway by which it was ascended, there were [two] columns beside the side pillars, one on each side [of the entrance].

The Inner Temple

41 Then he (the angel) brought me to the nave (outer sanctuary) and measured the side pillars; six cubits wide on each side was the width of the ^[j]side pillar. ² The width of the entrance was ten cubits and the ^[k]sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits. ³ Then he went inside [the inner sanctuary] and measured each side pillar of the doorway, two cubits, and the doorway, six cubits [high], and the width of the doorway, seven cubits.^{(A) 4} He measured the length [of the interior of the inner sanctuary], twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, ^[l]opposite the nave (outer sanctuary); and he said to me, “This is the ^[m]Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits [thick, to accommodate side chambers]; and the width of every side chamber, four cubits, all around the temple on every side. ⁶ The side chambers were three stories [high], one above another, and thirty chambers in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, so that they would be attached, but not attached to the wall of the temple itself. ⁷ The side chambers became wider at each successive level as they encompassed the temple. Because the structure surrounding the temple went higher by stages on all sides of the temple, for that reason the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and thus one went up from the lowest story to the highest one by way of the ^[n]second story. ⁸ I also saw that the temple (house) had a raised platform all around it; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full rod of six long cubits in height. ⁹ The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple ¹⁰ and the outer chambers was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. ¹¹ The doorways of the side chambers toward the free space were one doorway toward the north and another doorway toward the south; and the width of the free space was five cubits all around.

¹² The building that was in front of the separate area on the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

¹³ Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. ¹⁴ Also the width of the front of the temple and the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.

¹⁵ He (the angel) measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also measured the inner sanctuary and the porches (porticoes) of the courtyard. ¹⁶ The thresholds, the latticed windows, and the galleries all around their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), ¹⁷ over the entrance, and to the inner ^[o]room, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. ¹⁸ It was ^[p]carved with [figures of] cherubim and palm trees; so that a palm decoration was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹ so that the face of a man was toward the palm decoration on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm decoration on the other side. It was carved [this way] on the entire house (temple) all around. ²⁰ From the ^[q]floor to [the space] above the entrance cherubim and palm decorations were carved, and also on the wall of the nave [the Holy Place].

²¹ The doorposts of the nave were square; as for the front of the sanctuary, the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other. ²² The ^[r]altar was of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long; and its corners, its ^[s]base, and its ^[t]sides were wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” ²³ The nave (Holy Place) and the sanctuary (Holy of Holies) each had a double door. ²⁴ Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging (folding) leaves; two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other. ²⁵ And there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm decorations like those carved on the walls; and there was a ^[u]threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside. ²⁶ There were latticed windows and palm decorations on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch. Thus were the side chambers and the ^[v]thresholds of the house.

Things to Avoid

4 What leads to [the unending] ^[a]quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]? ² You are jealous and covet [what others have] and ^[b]your lust goes unfulfilled; so you ^[c]murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].^{(A) 3} You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask ^[d]with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires. ⁴ You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose ^[e]that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?^{(B) 6} But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness].”^{(C) 7} So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]. ⁹ Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose].

¹¹ Believers, do not speak against or slander one another. He who speaks [self-righteously] against a brother or ^[f]judges his brother [hypocritically], speaks against the Law and judges the Law. If you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?

¹³ Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit.” ^14 [g]Yet you do not know [the least thing] ^[h]about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]. ¹⁵ Instead ^[i]you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and we will do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast [vainly] in your pretension and arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.