< Ezekiel 42 >

1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.
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 Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
Those rooms were one hundred cubits along their front and fifty cubits in width.
3 Over against the twenty [cubits] which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.
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 before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
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 Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.
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 in three stories, and they had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore [the uppermost] was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost 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 the wall that was without by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length thereof 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 that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an 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 from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court.
There was an entrance to the lowest rooms from the east side, coming from the outer courtyard.
10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were 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 way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their goings out were both according to their fashions, 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 And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into 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 Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be the holy chambers, where the priests that are near unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the guilt offering; for 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 When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertaineth to 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 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.
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 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
He measured the east side with a measuring stick—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.
17 He measured on the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
He measured the north side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.
18 He measured on the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.
He also measured the south side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.
19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
He also turned and measured the west side—five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.
20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
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.

< Ezekiel 42 >