40:44 On the outside of the inner gate were chambers for the singers of the inner court, one 3 at the side of the north gate facing south, and the other at the side of the south 4 gate facing north. 40:45 He said to me, “This chamber which faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple, 5 40:46 and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the descendants of Zadok, from the descendants of Levi, who may approach the Lord to minister to him.” 40:47 He measured the court as a square 175 feet long and 175 feet wide; 6 the altar was in front of the temple.
40:48 Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured the jambs of the porch as 8¾ feet 7 on either side, and the width of the gate was 24½ feet 8 and the sides 9 were 5¼ feet 10 on each side. 40:49 The length of the porch was 35 feet 11 and the width 19¼ feet; 12 steps 13 led up to it, and there were pillars beside the jambs on either side.
1 tc This reading is supported by the Aramaic Targum. The LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac read “shelves” or some type of projection.
2 tn Heb “one handbreadth” (7.5 cm).
3 tn “One” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied for clarity in the translation.
4 tc This reading is supported by the LXX; the MT reads “east.”
5 tn Heb “the house.”
6 tn Heb “one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, a square” (i.e., 52.5 meters by 52.5 meters).
7 tn Heb “five cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters).
8 tn The LXX reads “fourteen cubits” (i.e., 7.35 meters). See following note.
9 tc The translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “the width of the gate was three cubits,” the omission due to haplography.
10 tn Heb “three cubits” (i.e., 1.575 meters).
11 tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).
12 tn Heb “eleven cubits” (i.e., 5.775 meters).
13 tc The LXX reads “ten steps.”