Historical
39 ‘Son of man, you must tell my message to Gog to warn him. Say to him, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I am your enemy, Gog, prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around and I will pull you along. I will bring you from the far away places in the north to attack the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will knock your bow out of your left hand. I will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You will fall to the ground on Israel's mountains. You, your soldiers and the people who are with you will all die there. Vultures and wild animals will eat your dead bodies. 5 Your bodies will lie in the fields. I, the Almighty Lord, have said that this will happen.
6 I will send fires to burn in Magog. They will burn the people who live safely in towns on the coast of the sea. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 My people, Israel will know that my name is holy. No longer will I let them say bad things about me. And the nations round you will know that I, the Lord am the holy God in Israel. 8 I promise that I will cause this to happen. You can be sure that this day will come, says the Lord God.
I told you that this day would come.
9 Then those who live in Israel's towns will go out. They will pick up the weapons and they will burn them. They will burn the small and large shields, the heavy sticks, the throwing sticks and the sharp pointed sticks (swords). They will use them to make their fires. They will have enough wood for seven years of fires. 10 They will not have to go into the fields or forests to find wood. They will take away the things from those who took their things, says the Lord God.
11 They will bury Gog in the valley east of the sea. They will bury Gog and all his armies there. So men will not be able to walk through this valley. They will call it the valley of Hamon Gog (Gog's army).
12 Israel's people will need seven months to bury all the dead bodies. Then the land will be clean. 13 All the people in the country will bury the dead bodies. They will always remember that day, the day that I won the fight. They will give me glory, says the Lord God.
14 They will choose some men to clean the land. They will travel through all the country. Other men will bury the dead bodies that remain on the ground. They will begin to do this at the end of the seven months. 15 The men who walk through the country will find dead men's bones. They will put a sign by each one. Then the men who bury the bodies will bury them in the valley of Hamon Gog. 16 (A town called Hamonah is also there.) That is how they will make the land clean.”
17 Son of man, this is what the Lord God says: Shout to all kinds of birds and wild animals, “Come here from all the country to eat the meal that I have prepared for you. It is a great sacrifice on Israel's mountains. There you will eat meat and you will drink blood. 18 You will eat the meat of great men and you will drink the blood of kings. You will eat them like the fat sheep, cows and animals from Bashan that you eat. 19 At this sacrifice, you will eat so much fat that you cannot eat any more. You will drink so much blood that you become drunk. 20 I will give you horses and their riders to eat. I will give you great men and many kinds of soldiers to eat,” says the Lord God.
21 I will show my glory to all the nations. They will see that I can punish people. And they will know that I decide how and when to punish them. 22 From that time and for all the time after that, Israel's people will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know that I sent Israel's people away from their country. They will know that I punished my people because of their sin. They had not been faithful to me so I turned away from them. I let their enemies take them and kill them with swords. 24 I punished them because they had not kept themselves clean from sin. I hid myself from them because they had done so many evil things.’
25 So this is what the Lord God says. ‘Now I will bring back Jacob (Israel) from the countries where his people are prisoners. I will be kind to all Israel's people. And I will make them see that I am holy. 26 They will forget that they were ashamed. They will forget that they failed to keep their promises to me. That was when they lived in a safe country. In that country, nobody made them afraid. 27 I will bring them back from the lands where their enemies took them. The nations will see what I have done. So all the nations will know that I am holy. 28 Then Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. I sent my people away to far countries. But I will bring them all back to their own country. I will not leave any behind. 29 No longer will I turn away from them. I will pour my Spirit over Israel's people, says the Lord God.’
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.
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