Ezekiel 40:21-22

40:21 Its alcoves, three on each side, and its jambs and porches had the same measurement as the first gate; 87½ feet ¹  long and 43¾ feet ²  wide. 40:22 Its windows, its porches, and its decorative palm trees had the same measurement as the gate which faced east. Seven steps led up to it, and its porch was in front of them.

Ezekiel 40:25

40:25 There were windows all around it and its porches, like the windows of the others; ³  87½ feet ⁴  long and 43¾ feet ⁵  wide.

Ezekiel 40:30

40:30 There were porches all around, 43¾ feet ⁶  long and 8¾ feet ⁷  wide.

Ezekiel 41:15

41:15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, with its galleries on either side as 175 feet. ⁸ 

The interior of the outer sanctuary and the porch of the court, ⁹ 

Ezekiel 42:3

42:3 Opposite the 35 feet ¹⁰  that belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, gallery faced gallery in the three stories.

John 5:2

5:2 Now there is ¹¹  in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate ¹²  a pool called Bethzatha ¹³  in Aramaic, ¹⁴  which has five covered walkways. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

² tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).

³ tn Heb “as these windows.”

⁴ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

⁵ tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).

⁶ tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).

⁷ tn Heb “five cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters).

⁸ tn Heb “one hundred cubits” (i.e., 52.5 meters).

⁹ tc Some Hebrew mss read “and its outer court.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).

¹¹ tn Regarding the use of the present tense ἐστιν (estin) and its implications for the dating of the Gospel of John, see the article by D. B. Wallace, “John 5,2 and the Date of the Fourth Gospel,” Bib 71 (1990): 177-205.

¹² tn The site of the miracle is also something of a problem: προβατικῇ (probatikh) is usually taken as a reference to the Sheep Gate near the temple. Some (R. E. Brown and others) would place the word κολυμβήθρα (kolumbhqra) with προβατικῇ to read “in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Pool, there is (another pool) with the Hebrew name.” This would imply that there is reference to two pools in the context rather than only one. This does not seem necessary (although it is a grammatical possibility). The gender of the words does not help since both are feminine (as is the participle ἐπιλεγομένη [epilegomenh]). Note however that Brown’s suggestion would require a feminine word to be supplied (for the participle ἐπιλεγομένη to modify). The traditional understanding of the phrase as a reference to the Sheep Gate near the temple appears more probably correct.

¹³ tc Some mss (א [L] 33 it) read Bethzatha, while others read Bethsaida (Ì^[66],75 B T W^s [Ψ] pc vg); codex D has Belzetha. A lot of controversy has surrounded the name of the pool itself: The reading of the Byzantine (or majority) text (A C Θ 078 Ë^1,13 Ï), Bethesda, has been virtually discarded by scholars in favor of what is thought to be the more primitive Bethzatha, even though many recent translations continue to employ Bethesda, the traditional reading. The latter is attested by Josephus as the name of a quarter of the city near the northeast corner of the temple area. He reports that the Syrian Legate Cestius burned this suburb in his attack on Jerusalem in October a.d. 68 (J. W. 2.19.4 [2.530]). However, there is some new archaeological evidence for this problem. 3Q15 (Copper Scroll) from Qumran seems to indicate that in the general area of the temple, on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, a treasure was buried in Bet áEsdatayin, in the pool at the entrance to the smaller basin. The name of the region or pool itself seems then to have been Bet ᾿Esda, “house of the flowing.” It appears with the dual ending in the scroll because there were two basins. Bethesda seems to be an accurate Greek rendition of the name, while J. T. Milik suggests Bethzatha is a rendition of the Aramaic intensive plural Bet áEsdata (DJDJ 3, 271). As for the text of John 5:2, the fundamental problems with the Bethesda reading are that it looks motivated (with an edifying Semitic etymology, meaning “House of Mercy” [TCGNT 178]), and is minimally attested. Apart from the Copper Scroll, the evidence for Bethesda is almost entirely shut up to the Byzantine text (C being the most notable exception, but it often has Byzantine encroachments). On the one hand, this argues the Byzantine reading here had ancient, semitic roots; on the other hand, since both readings are attested as historically accurate, a decision has to be based on the better witnesses. The fact that there are multiple readings here suggests that the original was not well understood. Which reading best explains the rise of the others? It seems that Bethzatha is the best choice.

¹⁴ tn Grk “in Hebrew.”

¹⁵ tn Or “porticoes,” or “colonnades”; Grk “stoas.”