Jezekiel 42

1 And he brought me into the inner court eastward, opposite the northern gate: and he brought me in, and behold five chambers near the vacant space, and near the northern partition,

Next the man sent me out to the outer courtyard on the north side, and he brought me to rooms in front of the outer courtyard and the northern outer wall.

2 a hundred cubits in length toward the north, and in breadth fifty,

Those rooms were one hundred cubits along their front and fifty cubits in width.

3 ornamented accordingly as the gates of the inner court, and arranged accordingly as the peristyles of the outer court, [with] triple porticos fronting one another.

Some of those rooms faced the inner courtyard and were twenty cubits away from the sanctuary. There were three levels of rooms, and the ones above looked down on the ones below and were open to them, having a walkway. Some of the rooms looked out onto the outer courtyard.

4 And in front of the chambers was a walk ten cubits in breadth, the length [reaching] to a hundred cubits; and their doors were northward.

A passage ten cubits in width and one hundred cubits in length ran in front of the rooms. The rooms' doors were toward the north.

5 And the upper walks were in like manner: for the peristyle projected from it, [even] from the range of columns below, and [there was] a space between; so [were there] a peristyle and a space between, and so [were there] two porticos.

But the upper halls were smaller, for the walkways took away from them more space than they did in the lowest and middle levels of the building.

6 For they were triple, and they had not pillars like the pillars of the outer ones: therefore they projected from the lower ones and the middle ones from the ground.

For the halls on the third story had no columns, unlike the courtyards, which did have columns. So the highest level's rooms were smaller in size compared to the rooms in the lowest and middle levels.

7 And [there was] light without, corresponding to the chambers of the outer court looking toward the front of the northern chambers; the length [of them was] fifty cubits.

The outside wall ran along the rooms toward the outer courtyard, the courtyard that was in front of the rooms. That wall was fifty cubits in length.

8 For the length of the chambers looking toward the inner court was fifty cubits, and these are the ones that front the others; the whole was a hundred cubits.

The length of the rooms of the outer courtyard was fifty cubits, and the rooms facing the sanctuary were one hundred cubits in length.

9 And [there were] doors of these chambers for an outlet toward the east, so that one should go through them out of the outer court,

There was an entrance to the lowest rooms from the east side, coming from the outer courtyard.

10 by the opening of the walk at the corner; and the south parts were toward the south, toward the remaining space, and toward the partition, and [so were] the chambers.

Along the wall of the outer courtyard on the eastern side of the outer courtyard, in front of the sanctuary's inner courtyard, there were also rooms

11 And the walk was in front of them, according to the measures of the chambers toward the north, both according to the length of them, and according to the breadth of them, and according to all their openings, an according to all their turnings, and according to their lights, and according to their doors.

with a walkway in front of them. They were as the appearance of the rooms on the northern side. They had the same length and breadth and the same exits and arrangements and doors.

12 [So were the measures] of the chambers toward the south, and according to the doors at the entrance of the walk, as it were the distance of a reed for light, and eastward as one went in by them.

On the south side were doors into rooms that were just the same as on the north side. A passage on the inside had a door at its head, and the passage opened into the various rooms. On the east side there was a doorway into the passage at one end.

13 And he said to me, The chambers toward the north, and the chambers toward the south, in front of the void spaces, these are the chambers of the sanctuary, wherein the priests the sons of Sadduc, who draw night to the Lord, shall eat the most holy things: and there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; because the place is holy.

Then the man said to me, “The northern rooms and the southern rooms that are in front of the outer courtyard are holy rooms where the priests who work nearest to Yahweh may eat the most holy food. They will put the most holy things there—the food offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for this is a holy place.

14 None shall go in thither except the priests, [and] they shall not go forth of the holy place into the outer court, that they that draw nigh [to me] may be continually holy, and may not touch their garments in which they minister, [with defilement], for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments whenever they come in contact with the people.

When the priests enter there, they must not go out of the holy place to the outer court, without laying aside the clothes in which they served, since these are holy. So they must dress in other clothes before going near the people.”

15 So the measurement of the house within was accomplished: and he brought me forth by the way of the gate that looks eastward, and measured the plan of the house round about in order.

The man completed measuring the inner house and then took me out to the gate that faced the east and measured all the surrounding area there.

16 And he stood behind the gate looking eastward, and measured five hundred [cubits] with the measuring reed.

He measured the east side with a measuring stick—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

17 And he turned to the north and measured in front of the north [side] five hundred cubits with the measuring reed.

He measured the north side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

18 And he turned to the west, and measured in front of the west side, five hundred [cubits] with the measuring reed.

He also measured the south side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

19 And he turned to the south, and measured in front of the south side, five hundred [cubits] by the measuring reed.

He also turned and measured the west side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

20 The [four sides he measured] by the same reed, and he marked out the house and the circumference of the parts round about, [a space] of five hundred [cubits] eastward, and a breadth of five hundred cubits, to make a division between the sanctuary and the outer wall, that [belonged to] the design of the house.

He measured it on four sides. It had a wall around it that was five hundred cubits in length, and five hundred cubits in width, to separate the holy from that which is common.