Ezekiel 41–42

INSIDE THE TEMPLE

41Next he brought me into the great hall and measured the jambs;^m on each side the width of the jamb was 10½ feet.^{K 2}The width of the entrance was 17½ feet,^M and the side walls of the entrance were 8¾ feet wide on each side. He also measured the length of the great hall, 70 feet,^O and the width, 35 feet. ³He went inside the next room and measured the jambs at the entrance;^o they were 3½ feet wide. The entrance was 10½ feet wide, and the width of the entrance’s side walls on each side^R was 12¼ feet.^{S 4}He then measured the length of the room adjacent to the great hall, 35 feet, and the width, 35 feet.^p And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”^q

OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE

⁵Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was 10½ feet thick. The width of the side rooms all around the temple was 7 feet.^{T 6}The side rooms were arranged one above another in three stories of thirty rooms each.^U There were ledges on the wall of the temple all around to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be in the temple wall itself.^{s 7}The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple went up by stages. This was the reason for the temple’s broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.^V

⁸I saw that the temple had a raised platform surrounding it; this foundation for the side rooms was 10½ feet high.^{W 9}The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was 8¾ feet. The free space between the side rooms of the temple ¹⁰and the outer chambers was 35 feet wide all around the temple.^{a 11}The side rooms opened into the free space, one entrance toward the north and another to the south. The area of free space was 8¾ feet wide all around.

¹²Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122½ feet^A wide. The wall of the building was 8¾ feet thick on all sides, and the building’s length was 157½ feet.^B

¹³Then the man measured the temple; it was 175 feet^C long.^b In addition, the temple yard and the building, including its walls, were 175 feet long. ¹⁴The width of the front of the temple along with the temple yard to the east was 175 feet. ¹⁵Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple yard to the west, with its galleries^D on each side;^c it was 175 feet.

INTERIOR WOODEN STRUCTURES

The interior of the great hall and the porticoes of the court—¹⁶the thresholds, the beveled windows,^d and the balconies all around with their three levels opposite the threshold—were overlaid with wood on all sides.^e They were paneled from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), ¹⁷reaching to the top of the entrance, and as far as the inner temple and on the outside. On every wall all around, on the inside and outside, was a pattern ¹⁸carved with cherubim and palm trees.^f There was a palm tree between each pair of cherubim.^g Each cherub had two faces: ¹⁹a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side,^h and a lion’s face turned toward it on the other. They were carved throughout the temple on all sides. ²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were carved from the ground to the top of the entrance and on the wall of the great hall.

²¹The doorposts of the great hall were square,ⁱ and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance. ²²The altar was made of wood, 5¼ feet^F high and 3½ feet long.^G It had corners, and its length^H and sides were of wood.^j The man told me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”^k

²³The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door,^{l 24}and each of the doors had two swinging panels.^m There were two panels for one door and two for the other. ²⁵Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy^I outside, in front of the portico. ²⁶There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides,^o on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the temple, and the canopies.^I

THE PRIESTS’ CHAMBERS

42Then the man led me out by way of the north gate into the outer court.^p He brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple yard and opposite the building^q to the north. ²Along the length of the chambers, which was 175 feet, there was an entrance on the north; the width was 87½ feet. ³Opposite the 35 foot space^C belonging to the inner court and opposite the paved surface^s belonging to the outer court, the structure rose gallery by gallery^t in three tiers. ⁴In front of the chambers was a walkway toward the inside,^u 17½ feet^D wide and 175 feet long,^E and their entrances were on the north. ⁵The upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took away more space from them than from the lower and middle stories of the building. ⁶For they were arranged in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts;^v therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and middle stories. ⁷A wall on the outside ran in front of the chambers, parallel to them, toward the outer court; it was 87½ feet long. ⁸For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet long, while those facing the great hall were 175 feet long.^{w 9}At the base of these chambers there was an entryway on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.^x

¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the south,^F there were chambers facing the temple yard^y and the western building, ¹¹with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that faced north.^z Their length and width, as well as all their exits, measurements, and entrances, were identical. ¹²The entrance at the beginning of the passageway, the way in front of the corresponding^G wall as one enters on the east side, was similar to the entrances of the chambers that were on the south side.

¹³Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat^a the most holy offerings.^b There they will deposit the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings—for the place is holy.^{c 14}Once the priests have entered, they are not to go out from the holy area to the outer court until they have removed the clothes they minister in, for these are holy.^d They are to put on other clothes before they approach the public area.”^e

OUTSIDE DIMENSIONS OF THE TEMPLE COMPLEX

¹⁵When he finished measuring inside the temple complex, he led me out by way of the gate that faced east and measured all around the complex.^f

¹⁶He measured the east side with a measuring rod;

it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁷He^J measured the north side;

it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁸He^K measured the south side;

it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁹Then he turned to the west side

and measured 875 feet by the measuring rod.

²⁰He measured the temple complex on all four sides. It had a wall all around it,^g 875 feet long and 875 feet^h wide, to separate the holy from the common.ⁱ