8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there 1 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, 2 were about twenty-five 3 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, 4 facing east – they were worshiping the sun 5 toward the east!
11:1 A wind 6 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 7
40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city 8 was struck down, on this very day, 9 the hand 10 of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. 11
45:1 “‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment 26 to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles 27 and the width three and one-third miles. 28 This entire area will be holy. 29
48:8 “Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles 30 wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it.
1 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
2 sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).
3 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.
4 sn The temple faced east.
5 tn Or “the sun god.”
6 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
7 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
11 sn That is, Jerusalem.
12 tn April 19, 573
13 tn Or “power.”
14 sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).
16 tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).
17 tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).
21 tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).
22 tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).
26 tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).
27 tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).
31 tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).
32 tn Heb “eleven cubits” (i.e., 5.775 meters).
33 tc The LXX reads “ten steps.”
36 tn Heb “ten cubits” (i.e., 5.25 meters).
37 tc The translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “the width of the gate was three cubits,” the omission due to haplography.
38 tn Heb “five cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters).
39 tn Heb “forty cubits” (i.e., 21 meters).
40 tn Heb “twenty cubits” (i.e., 10.5 meters).
41 tn Heb “a contribution.”
42 tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers). The measuring units here are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard miles (one mile = 5,280 feet), with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.
43 tc The LXX reads “twenty thousand cubits.”
44 tn Heb “holy it is in all its territory round about.”
46 tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers).