Ezekiel 40; Ezekiel 41; Ezekiel 42

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month - this was the fourteenth year after the city [of Yerushalayim] was struck - it was on that very day that the hand of ADONAI was on me, and he took me there.

2 In visions God brought me into the land of Isra'el and put me down on a very high mountain; on it, toward the south, it seemed that a city was being built.

3 That is where he took me, and there in front of me was a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

4 The man said to me, "Human being, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to all the things I am showing you; because the reason you were brought here is so that I could show them to you. Tell everything you see to the house of Isra'el."

5 There was a wall surrounding the house. The man had in his hand a measuring rod six cubits long [ten-and-a-half feet], each cubit [twenty-one inches] being a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]. He measured the wall's width at ten-and-a-half feet and its height ten-and-a-half feet.

6 He went to the east gate, climbed its steps and measured one of the gate's doorposts at ten-and-a-half feet wide and the other one the same.

7 There were guardrooms, each ten-and-a-half feet square; the distance between the guardrooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet. The threshold of the gate adjoining the gate's entranceway facing the house measured ten-and-a-half feet.

8 He measured the gate's entranceway facing the house at ten-and-a-half feet.

9 Then he measured the gate's entranceway itself, fourteen feet, and its supports, three-and-a-half feet; the gate's entranceway was on the side facing the house.

10 There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all the same size; and on each side the supports [between the guardrooms] were also all the same size.

11 He measured the width of the opening to the gateway at seventeen-and-a-half feet and the width of the passage through the gateway at twenty-two-and-three-quarters feet.

12 There was a partition in front of the guardrooms [on one side] twenty-one inches [wide] and a partition on the other side twenty-one inches [wide], with the guardrooms themselves being ten-and-a-half feet square.

13 He measured [inside] the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other a distance of forty-three-and-three-quarters feet, the openings [to the guardrooms] being opposite each other.

14 He made the posts 105 feet, likewise the posts of the other gates around the courtyard.

15 The distance along the passage from the outer opening of the gateway to the far side of the entranceway at the inner end of the gateway was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet.

16 There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.

17 Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There I saw rooms and paved mosaic flooring made for the courtyard all around its perimeter, and thirty rooms facing the flooring.

18 The flooring was alongside the gates and corresponded to the length of the gates [from outside to inside], this lower flooring.

19 He measured at 175 feet the distance from inside this lower gate that faced east to the outside of the inner courtyard, and he did the same for the gate that faced north.

20 Next he measured the length and width of the outer courtyard gate that faced north.

21 It had three guardrooms on each side, and its supports and vestibule were the same size as those at the first gate; its length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and its width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet.

22 Its windows, vestibule and palm trees were the same size as those at the east gate. Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside.

23 There were gates to the inner courtyard across from the gates to the north and east; he measured 175 feet from each outer gate to its corresponding inner gate.

24 He led me toward the south, and there I saw a gate that faced south. He measured its supports and vestibule; they were the same size as the others.

25 There were windows in it and all around its vestibule like the other windows; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet.

26 Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside. It had palm trees, one on each side, on its supports.

27 The inner courtyard had a gate on the south; he measured from gate to gate toward the south 175 feet.

28 He brought me to the inner courtyard through its south gate. He measured this south gate as being the same size;

29 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide.

30 There was a vestibule around it forty-three-and-three-quarters feet long and eight-and-three-quarters feet wide;

31 this vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, and it had eight steps leading up to it.

32 He brought me into the inner courtyard, went toward the east and measured that gate as being the same size;

33 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide.

34 Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

35 He brought me over to the north gate and measured it as being the same size;

36 it had guardrooms, supports and a vestibule with windows all around; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet.

37 Its supports faced the outer courtyard; palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

38 There was a room with its entry by the supports at the gates where the burnt offerings were washed.

39 In the entranceway to the gate were two tables on the one side and two on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings.

40 On the outside, as one goes up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side of the entranceway to the gate were two tables.

41 So there were four tables on the one side and four on the other side, by the gate - eight tables on which to slaughter sacrifices.

42 There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, thirty-one-and-a-half inches square and twenty-one inches high, on which to lay the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and other sacrifices.

43 Hooks a handbreadth long were fastened all around the inside of the room; the flesh of the offerings was to be placed on the tables.

44 Outside the inner gate, in the inner courtyard, were rooms for the singers, one facing south alongside the north gate, and one facing north alongside the east gate.

45 He said to me, "This room facing south is for the cohanim in charge of the house;

46 while the room facing north is for the cohanim in charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Tzadok, who are the descendants of Levi designated to approach ADONAI and serve him."

47 Then he measured the courtyard at 175 feet long and 175 feet wide - it was square. The altar was in front of the house.

48 He brought me to the vestibule of the house and measured at eight-and-three-quarters feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance. On each side, these walls extended five-and-a-quarter feet from the side-walls of the vestibule.

49 The length of the vestibule was thirty-five feet and the width nineteen-and-a-quarter feet; steps led up to it. There were columns on each side of the entrance.

1 He brought me to the sanctuary and measured at ten-and-a-half feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance, which was [also] the thickness of [the walls surrounding] the "tent" [that is, the sanctuary together with the Especially Holy Place].

2 The width of the entrance was seventeen-and-a-half feet. The sides of the entrance were eight-and-three-quarters feet on the one side and the same on the other. He measured its length at seventy feet and its width at thirty-five feet.

3 Next, he went farther in [to the entranceway leading to the Especially Holy Place] and measured at three-and-a-half feet [the thickness of] each entrance support. He measured at ten-and-a-half feet the total thickness of the walls on either side of the entrance; and he measured at twelve-and-a-quarter feet the width of the entrance.

4 [Continuing into the inner room,] he said to me, "This is the Especially Holy Place." He measured its length at thirty-five feet and its width at thirty-five feet along the wall nearest the sanctuary.

5 [On his way out,] he measured the thickness of the wall of the house at ten-and-a-half feet [at ground level], and the width of all the side-rooms surrounding the house, seven feet [at ground level].

6 There were three floors of side-rooms, thirty on each floor; and the wall around the house was terraced, so that the side-rooms rested on the terraces and were not supported on [the vertical parts of] the wall.

7 The higher side-rooms surrounding the house were wider than the lower ones, as were the passageways next to the side-rooms on each floor; thus the width of the side-rooms plus that of the passageways increased as one went up from floor to floor. The ascent from the lowest floor to the highest was [by a ramp] through the middle floor.

8 I saw that the house had a raised pavement all around it which extended outward a full rod of ten-and-a-half feet from where the foundations of the side-rooms joined it.

9 The outer wall of the side-rooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet thick [at ground level], likewise the empty space left [between] the structure containing the side-rooms [and the house itself also measured eight-and-three quarters feet wide].

10 On all sides around the house itself was a space thirty-five feet wide between it and the [block of] rooms [for the cohanim].

11 The doors of the side-rooms opened toward an empty space, one door facing north and the other facing south; the empty space was eight-and-three-quarters feet [wide] all around.

12 The building on the west facing the separated yard had a[n interior] width of 1221/2 feet, a[n interior] length of 1571/2 feet and exterior walls eight-and-three-quarters feet thick all the way around.

13 He measured the length of the house at 175 feet; then a distance that included [the width of] the separated yard, [the interior width of] the building and [the thickness of] its [front and back exterior] walls, at 175 feet.

14 The distance along the facade of the house on the east through the separated yard[s to the north and south] was 175 feet.

15 He measured the length of the building facing the separated yard behind [the house], together with its galleries on both sides, at 175 feet. The sanctuary, the inner place and the vestibules [leading from the house] to the courtyard,

16 as well as the thresholds, narrow windows and galleries around these three, had wood panelling around them as far as the thresholds and from the ground up to the windows; and the windows were covered.

17 From the area above the entrance to the interior of the house, as well as outside, and on the entire wall all the way around, both inside and outside, was a pattern

18 consisting of k'ruvim and palm trees, with a palm tree between every two k'ruvim. Every keruv had two faces;

19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on its one side and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on its other side - this was the pattern all the way around the house.

20 The k'ruvim and palm trees ran from the ground to above the door, and likewise on the wall of the sanctuary.

21 As for the sanctuary, the door-frames were squared, and the appearance of the [Especially] Holy Place was like the appearance [I saw at the K'var River].

22 The altar was of wood, five-and-a-quarter feet high and three-and-a-half feet long; its length and walls were also of wood. He said to me, "This is the table which is in the presence of ADONAI."

23 The sanctuary had two doors, and the [Especially] Holy Place

24 had two doors. The doors had two swinging leaves each - two leaves for the one door and two for the other.

25 On them, that is, on the doors of the sanctuary, were carved k'ruvim and palm trees like those on the walls; and on the exterior facade of the outside entrance were thick beams of wood.

26 There were narrow windows flanked by palm trees on both sides of the entrance; the side-rooms of the house and the thick beams also [had palm trees].

1 Then he led me into the outer courtyard - the route went north - and brought me to the [block of] rooms opposite the separated yard and opposite the building to the north.

2 The length of the front was 175 feet on the north side, where the door was; the width was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet.

3 It was located between the inner courtyard, which was thirty-five feet wide, and the flooring of the outer courtyard. It had galleries, one above the other, on three floors.

4 In front of the [block of] rooms was a walkway seventeen-and-a-half feet wide and a path twenty-one inches [wide]; their doors faced north.

5 The upper rooms were shorter, because the galleries took up some of their space, more than from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors] of the building.

6 For the rooms were on three floors, and they didn't have columns like those in the courtyards; therefore space was taken away from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors], in comparison with the ground.

7 The length of the wall outside, next to the rooms, toward the outer courtyard in front of the rooms, was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet.

8 For the length of the rooms toward the outer courtyard was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet, whereas [the length of] the side facing the sanctuary was 175 feet.

9 Under these rooms was the entrance to the east side, leading in from the outer courtyard.

10 In the width of the courtyard wall on the east, facing the separated yard and facing the building, there were rooms,

11 with a passageway in front of them, similar to the rooms on the north. They were the same length and width and had similarly made exits and entrances.

12 By the entrances of the rooms on the south there was an entrance at the end of the passage, the passageway right in front of the wall, toward the eastern entrances.

13 Then he said to me, "The north and south [blocks of] rooms in front of the separated yard are the holy rooms where the cohanim who approach ADONAI will eat the especially holy things. This is where they will put the especially holy things - the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings; for the place is holy.

14 When the cohanim come, they will not go out of the [Especially] Holy Place into the outer courtyard; rather, they will leave [in these rooms] the clothes they use when ministering, because they are holy. They will put on other clothes and only then approach the areas permitted to the people."

15 After he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by way of the gate facing east and measured the whole area.

16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

17 He measured the north side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

18 He measured the south side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet with the measuring rod.

20 He measured its four sides; it had a wall around it; and it was 875 [feet] long and 875 [feet] wide. Thus a division was made between what was holy and what was common.