Ezekiel 42
1 [in the vision] the man led me out of the inner courtyard, through [the entrance on] the north side. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a building that was built against the north [of the inner courtyard].
The man took me out through the north gate to the outer courtyard into the rooms on the far side of the Temple courtyard by the northern external wall.
2 That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.
The building with the north-facing door was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.
3 In that building were two rows of rooms, built on three levels, that faced each other. One row of rooms was built against the wall of the inner courtyard, and the other row was built against the wall facing the outer courtyard. The building was 34 feet from the temple.
It had three floors of open halls on both sides, one facing the twenty-cubit area of the inner courtyard and one facing the pavement of the outer courtyard.
4 Between the [two] rows of rooms there was a walkway that was (17-1/2 feet/5.3 meters) wide and (175 feet/53 meters) long. All its doors were on the north side.
In front of the rooms was an inside walkway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors opened to the north.
5 Each of the upper rows of rooms was narrower than the row of rooms below them, [because the upper rows needed to have a walkway in front of them].
The upper rooms were smaller because of the space taken up by the open halls on the lower and middle levels of the building.
6 The rooms on the upper levels had no pillars to support them like the ones in the courtyard. Instead, each of those row of rooms were supported by the walls of the row of rooms on the level below.
Since they didn't have pillars like the courtyards, the upper rooms were set farther back than the lower and middle levels.
7 The wall of the building extended (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) past the set of rooms built along the outer courtyard, separating all the rooms from the outer courtyard.
An external wall ran in front of the rooms for fifty cubits long parallel to the outer courtyard.
8 The row of rooms that were along the outer courtyard was (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) long, and the set of rooms that faced the temple was (175 feet/53 meters) long.
The rooms on the outer courtyard extended for fifty cubits, but those that faced the Temple were a hundred cubits long.
9 The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.
Below these rooms was an entrance on the east side coming from the outer courtyard.
10 On the south [side], along the wall of the outer courtyard, next to the temple courtyard, was a [a building with two] rows of rooms,
Along the wall on the south side of the outer courtyard were rooms next to the courtyard and opposite the building.
11 with a walkway between them. Those rooms were like the rooms on the north [side]: they were the same length and width, and had the same kind of entrances.
There was a walkway in front of them, just like the rooms on the north side. These rooms had the same length and width, the same doors, floor plan, and exits.
12 The doorways on the south side were similar to the doorways on the north side. There was an entrance in the wall that faced the doors of the set of rooms, and there was an entrance on the east side, at the end of the inside walkway.
Similarly there was an entrance under the rooms on the south side of the building, coming from the east side.
13 Then the man said to me, “These rooms that overlook the temple on the north and south sides are holy. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to Yahweh will [their portions of] the sacred offerings. Because these rooms are holy, they will be used to store the sacred offerings: [the grain for] the grain offerings, the offerings for the sins that people have committed, and offerings in order that people will no longer be guilty for having sinned.
The man told me, “The north and south rooms that face the Temple courtyard are holy rooms where the priests who go before the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. They will place the most holy offerings there because the place is holy, and include the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings.
14 When the priests leave the temple, they will not be allowed to [immediately] enter the outer courtyard. First, they must remove the clothes that they had been wearing inside the temple, because those clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before they enter the parts [of the temple area] where the [other] people [gather].”
Once the priests have entered these rooms, they are not to go to the outer courtyard before leaving their priestly clothes, because these are holy. They must change into other clothes before go where the ordinary people are.”
15 When the man had finished measuring the inside of the temple area, he led me out through the east entrance [of the outer courtyard] and measured all the way around the temple area.
After the man finished measuring inside of the Temple area, he took me out through the east gate, and he measured the surrounding area as well.
16 He measured the four sides of the area. There was a wall around the area that was (875 feet/265 meters) long on each side.
Using the measuring rod he measured the east side. It was five hundred cubits long.
He measured the north side. It was five hundred cubits long.
He measured the south side. It was five hundred cubits long.
And he came around and measured the west side. It was five hundred cubits long.
20 That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.
So he measured all four sides. There was a wall surrounding it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, separating the holy from the common.
