Ezekiel 41-42
Expanded Bible
The Holy Place of the Temple
41 The man brought me to the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall] and measured its ·side walls [or jambs], which were each ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] thick. 2 The entrance was ·seventeen and one-half feet [L ten cubits] wide. The walls alongside the entrance were each ·about nine feet wide [L five cubits]. The man measured the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall], which was ·seventy feet [L forty cubits] long and ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] wide.
3 Then the man went ·inside [into the inner sanctuary] and measured the ·side walls [or jambs] of the next doorway. Each was ·three and one-half feet [L two cubits] thick. The doorway was ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] wide, and the walls next to it were each more than ·twelve [L seven cubits] feet thick. 4 Then the man measured the room ·at the end of [or adjacent to] the ·Holy Place [outer sanctuary; main hall]. It was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] long and ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] long wide. The man said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
5 Then the man measured the wall of the ·Temple [L house], which was ·ten and one-half feet [L six cubits] thick. There were side rooms ·seven feet [L four cubits] wide all around the Temple. 6 The side rooms were on three different stories, each above the other, with thirty rooms on each story. All around the Temple walls there were ledges for the side rooms. The upper rooms rested on the ledges but were not attached to the Temple walls. 7 The side rooms around the Temple were wider on each higher story, so rooms were wider on the top story. ·A stairway went [or So one went] up from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story.
8 I also saw that the Temple had a raised ·base [platform] all around. Its edge was the foundation for the side rooms, and it was ·ten and one-half feet thick [L a full rod/stick of six cubits]. 9 The outer wall of the side rooms was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the Temple 10 and some other rooms. It was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] wide and went all around the Temple. 11 The side rooms had doors which led to the open area around the outside of the Temple. One door faced north, and the other faced south. The open area was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] wide all around.
12 The building facing the ·private area [temple courtyard] at the west side was ·one hundred twenty-two and one-half feet [L seventy cubits] wide. The wall around the building was ·about nine feet [L five cubits] thick and ·one hundred fifty-seven and one-half feet [L ninety cubits] long.
13 Then the man measured the Temple. It was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. The ·private area [temple courtyard], including the building and its walls, was in all ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. 14 Also the front of the Temple and the ·private area [courtyard] on its east side were ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] wide.
15 The man measured the length of the building facing the ·private area [courtyard] ·on the west side [or at the rear], and it was ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] ·from one wall to the other [or with its galleries on each side].
The ·Holy Place, the Most Holy Place [or interior of the outer sanctuary/main hall], and the outer porch 16 had wood panels on the walls. By the ·doorway [thresholds], the Temple had wood panels on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor up to the windows, 17 up to the part of the wall above the entrance.
All the walls inside the ·Most Holy Place and the Holy Place [inner and outer sanctuary], and on the outside, in the ·porch [portico], 18 had carvings of ·creatures with wings [L cherubim] and palm trees. A palm tree was between each ·carved creature [L cherub], and every ·creature [L cherub] had two faces. 19 One was a human face looking toward the palm tree on one side. The other was a lion’s face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all around the Temple walls. 20 From the floor to above the entrance, palm trees and ·creatures with wings [L cherubim] were carved. The walls of the Holy Place 21 had square doorposts. In front of the ·Most Holy Place [sanctuary] was something that looked like 22 an altar of wood. It was more than ·five feet [L three cubits] high and ·three feet [L two cubits] wide. Its corners, base, and sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is ·in the presence of [before] the Lord.” 23 Both the ·Holy Place [main hall; outer sanctuary] and the ·Most Holy Place [inner sanctuary] had double doors. 24 Each of the doors had two ·pieces [leaves] that would swing open. Two for one and two for the other. 25 Carved on the doors of the ·Holy Place [main hall; outer sanctuary] were palm trees and ·creatures with wings [L cherubim], like those carved on the walls. And there was a wood ·roof [canopy] over the front Temple ·porch [portico]. 26 There were narrow windows and palm trees on both side walls of the ·porch [portico]. The side rooms of the Temple were also covered by a ·roof [canopy] over the stairway.
The Priests’ Rooms
42 Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard and to the rooms across from the ·private area [temple courtyard] and the building. 2 These rooms on the north side were ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long and ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] wide. 3 There was ·thirty-five feet [L twenty cubits] of the inner courtyard between them and the Temple. On the other side, they faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The rooms were built in three stories like steps ·and had balconies [with gallery facing gallery]. 4 There was a ·path [passageway; walkway] in front of the rooms on the inner side, which was ·seventeen and one-half feet [L ten cubits] wide and ·one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. The entrances to the rooms were on the north. 5 The ·top [upper] rooms were narrower, because the ·balconies [galleries] took more space from them. The rooms on the first and second stories of the building were wider. 6 The rooms were on three stories. They did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards. So the ·top [upper] rooms were farther back than those on the first and second stories. 7 There was a wall outside parallel to the rooms and to the outer courtyard. It ran in front of the rooms for ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits]. 8 The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was ·eighty-seven and one-half feet [L fifty cubits] long, and the rooms that faced the ·Temple [main hall; sanctuary] were ·about one hundred seventy-five feet [L one hundred cubits] long. 9 The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side so a person could enter them from the outer courtyard, 10 at the start of the wall beside the courtyard [C some interpret this phrase as beginning the next sentence].
There were rooms on the south side, which were across from the ·private area [Temple courtyard] and the building. 11 These rooms had a path in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north with the same length and width and the same exits, measurements and doors. 12 The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was an entrance at the ·open end [or beginning] of a path beside the wall, so a person could enter at the east end.
13 The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the ·private area [courtyard] are holy rooms. There the priests who ·go near [approach] the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the ·grain [L gift; tribute] offerings [Lev. 2:1], ·sin [or purification] offerings [Lev. 4:3], and the ·penalty [guilt; reparation] offerings [Lev. 5:14–6:7], because the place is holy. 14 The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave ·their serving clothes [garments in which they minister] there before they go into the outer courtyard, because these ·clothes [garments] are holy. After they put on other ·clothes [garments], they may go to the part of the Temple area which is for the people.”
Outside the Temple Area
15 When the man finished measuring inside the Temple area, he brought me out through the east gateway. He measured the area all around. 16 The man measured the east side with the measuring stick; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring ·stick [rod]. 17 He measured the north side; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 18 He measured the south side; it was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 19 He went around to the west side; it measured ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] by the measuring stick. 20 So he measured the Temple area on all four sides. The Temple area had a wall all around it that was ·eight hundred seventy-five feet long [L five hundred cubits] and ·eight hundred seventy-five feet [L five hundred cubits] wide. It separated what was holy from ·that which was not holy [the common/profane; C ritually].
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
