Ezekiel 41:6-11

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.

41:8 I saw that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers were a full measuring stick ³  of 10½ feet ⁴  high. 41:9 The width of the outer wall of the side chambers was 8¾ feet, ⁵  and the open area between the side chambers of the temple 41:10 and the chambers of the court was 35 feet ⁶  in width all around the temple on every side. 41:11 There were entrances from the side chambers toward the open area, one entrance toward the north, and another entrance toward the south; the width of the open area was 8¾ feet ⁷  all around.

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 “reed.”

⁴ tn Heb “six cubits” (i.e., 3.15 meters).

⁵ tn Heb “five cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters).

⁶ tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).

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