Ezekiel 42:4-20

42:4 In front of the chambers was a walkway on the inner side, 17½ feet ¹  wide at a distance of 1¾ feet, ²  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 ³  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 ⁴  long. 42:8 For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet ⁵  long, while those facing the temple were 175 feet ⁶  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 ⁷  of the wall of the court toward the south, ⁸  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 ⁹  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 ¹⁰  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.”

42:15 Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple, he led me out by the gate which faces east and measured all around. 42:16 He measured the east side with the measuring stick ¹¹  as 875 feet ¹²  by the measuring stick. 42:17 He measured the north side as 875 feet by the measuring stick. 42:18 He measured the south side as 875 feet by the measuring stick. 42:19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet by the measuring stick. 42:20 He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.

¹ tn Heb “ten cubits” (i.e., 5.25 meters).

² tc Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm). The LXX and the Syriac read “one hundred cubits” (= 175 feet).

³ tn The phrase “upper chambers” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied from the context.

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

⁵ tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).

⁶ tn Heb “one hundred cubits” (i.e., 52.5 meters).

⁷ tc The reading is supported by the LXX.

⁸ tc This reading is supported by the LXX; the MT reads “east.”

⁹ tc The MT apparently evidences dittography, repeating most of the last word of the previous verse: “and like the openings of.”

¹⁰ sn The priests are from the Zadokite family (Ezek 40:6; 44:15).

¹¹ tn Heb “reed” (also in the following verses).

¹² tn Heb “five hundred cubits” (i.e., 262.5 meters).