The Blueprint of Holiness: Measuring the House of God
Ezekiel 40
1 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, in the same day, Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me there.
2 In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was something like the structure of a city on the south.
3 He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
4 The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”
5 Behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, each cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
6 Then he came to the gate which faces toward the east, and went up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide; and the other threshold was one reed wide.
7 Every guardroom was one reed long, and one reed wide; and the space between the guardrooms was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.
8 He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed.
9 Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.
10 The guardrooms of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; the three of them were of one measure; and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
11 He measured the width of the entrance of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits;
12 and a boundary before the guardrooms, one cubit on this side, and a boundary, one cubit on that side; and the guardrooms were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.
13 He measured the gate from the roof of the one guardroom to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits, door against door.
14 He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate.
15 From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits.
16 There were narrow windows to the guardrooms, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches. Windows were around inward; and on each post were palm trees.
17 Then he brought me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement made for the court all around. Thirty rooms were on the pavement.
18 The pavement was by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement.
19 Then he measured the width from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.
20 As for the gate of the outer court which faces toward the north, he measured its length and its width.
21 Its guardrooms were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits.
22 Its windows, its arches, and its palm trees were after the measure of the gate that faces toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.
23 There was a gate to the inner court opposite the other gate, both on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.
24 He led me toward the south; and behold, there was a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.
25 There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits.
26 There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts.
27 There was a gate to the inner court toward the south; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south one hundred cubits.
28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;
29 and its guardrooms, its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide.
30 There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits wide.
31 Its arches were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and its ascent had eight steps.
32 He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures;
33 and its guardrooms, its posts, and its arches, according to these measures. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide.
34 Its arches were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side and on that side: and its ascent had eight steps.
35 He brought me to the north gate: and he measured it according to these measures;
36 its guardrooms, its posts, and its arches. It had windows all around. The length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits.
37 Its posts were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side and on that side: and its ascent had eight steps.
38 A room with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering.
39 In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill on them the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
40 On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entrance of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
41 Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices.
42 There were four tables for the burnt offering of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
43 The hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within all around; and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.
44 Outside of the inner gate were two rooms in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate, facing toward the south; the other at the side of the south gate, facing toward the north.
45 He said to me, “This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests who perform the duty of the house.
46 The room which faces toward the north is for the priests who perform the duty of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him.”
47 He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and one hundred cubits wide, square; and the altar was before the house.
48 Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.
49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the width eleven cubits; and they went up to it by steps. There were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.
Ezekiel 41
1 He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side, and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent.
2 The width of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
3 Then he went inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.
4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the temple; and he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”
5 Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, around the house on every side.
6 The side rooms were in three stories, one above another, thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported, and not be supported by the wall of the house.
7 The side rooms were wider as they went around and around the house, because the house went up higher and higher all around the house. Therefore the width of the house continued upward; and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest by the middle story.
8 I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.
9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits; and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.
10 Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11 The doors of the side rooms were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the place that was left was five cubits all around.
12 The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
13 So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
14 also the width of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
15 He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at the back of it, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits, with the inner temple and the porches of the court;
16 the thresholds, the narrow windows, and the galleries around the three of them, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, from the ground up to the windows; and the windows were covered;
17 to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
18 It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;
19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made through all the house all around.
20 From the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made; and so was the wall of the temple.
21 As for the temple, the doorposts were squared; and as for the front of the sanctuary, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple.
22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, its length, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.”
23 The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24 The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
25 There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
26 There were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch; so were the side rooms of the house, and the thresholds.
Ezekiel 42
1 Then he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me into the room that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north.
2 Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the width was fifty cubits.
3 Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.
4 Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits’ width inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
5 Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took more space away from these than from the lower and the middle stories in the building.
6 For they were in three stories, and they didn’t have pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the uppermost was set back more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.
7 The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, its length was fifty cubits.
8 For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. Behold, before the temple it was one hundred cubits.
9 From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.
10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms.
11 The way before them was like the appearance of the rooms which were toward the north, according to their length, so was their width; and all their exits were both according to their arrangements and their doors.
12 According to the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.
13 Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, are the holy rooms, where the priests who come near to Yahweh will eat the most holy things. There they will lay the most holy things, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
14 When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy. They shall put on other garments, and shall approach that which pertains to the people.”
15 Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate which faces toward the east, and measured it all around.
16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around.
17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.
18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall all around, the length five hundred, and the width five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
Scripture: World English Bible Classic (WEB), a public-domain translation. Available for free copying and sharing at eBible.org.
