Ezekiel 41:6-7

41:6 The side chambers were in three stories, one above the other, thirty in each story. There were offsets in the wall all around to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that the supports were not in the wall of the temple. 41:7 The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story; ¹  for the structure ²  surrounding the temple went up story by story all around the temple. For this reason the width of the temple increased as it went up, and one went up from the lowest story to the highest by the way of the middle story.

Ezekiel 42:3-14

42:3 Opposite the 35 feet ³  that belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, gallery faced gallery in the three stories. 42:4 In front of the chambers was a walkway on the inner side, 17½ feet ⁴  wide at a distance of 1¾ feet, ⁵  and their entrances were on the north. 42:5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, because the galleries took more space from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 42:6 For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers ⁶  were set back from the ground more than the lower and upper ones. 42:7 As for the outer wall by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court facing the chambers, it was 87½ feet ⁷  long. 42:8 For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet ⁸  long, while those facing the temple were 175 feet ⁹  long. 42:9 Below these chambers was a passage on the east side as one enters from the outer court.

42:10 At the beginning ¹⁰  of the wall of the court toward the south, ¹¹  facing the courtyard and the building, were chambers 42:11 with a passage in front of them. They looked like the chambers on the north. Of the same length and width, and all their exits according to their arrangements and entrances 42:12 were the chambers ¹²  which were toward the south. There was an opening at the head of the passage, the passage in front of the corresponding wall toward the east when one enters.

42:13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests ¹³  who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings – the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy. 42:14 When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are.”

Ezekiel 42:1

Chambers for the Temple

42:1 Then he led me out to the outer court, toward the north, and brought me to the chamber which was opposite the courtyard and opposite the building on the north.

Ezekiel 6:5-6

6:5 I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, ¹⁴  and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6:6 In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. ¹⁵ 

¹ tc The Hebrew is difficult here. The Targum envisions a winding ramp or set of stairs, which entails reading the first word as a noun rather than a verb and reading the second word also not as a verb, supposing that an initial mem has been read as vav and nun. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:549.

² tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

³ tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).

⁴ tn Heb “ten cubits” (i.e., 5.25 meters).

⁵ tc Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm). The LXX and the Syriac read “one hundred cubits” (= 175 feet).

⁶ tn The phrase “upper chambers” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied from the context.

⁷ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

⁸ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

⁹ tn Heb “one hundred cubits” (i.e., 52.5 meters).

¹⁰ tc The reading is supported by the LXX.

¹¹ tc This reading is supported by the LXX; the MT reads “east.”

¹² tc The MT apparently evidences dittography, repeating most of the last word of the previous verse: “and like the openings of.”

¹³ sn The priests are from the Zadokite family (Ezek 40:6; 44:15).

¹⁴ tc This first sentence, which explains the meaning of the last sentence of the previous verse, does not appear in the LXX and may be an instance of a marginal explanatory note making its way into the text.

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb translated “wiped out” is used to describe the judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23).