Ezekiel 40:1-9

Vision of the New Temple

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 ¹  was struck down, on this very day, ²  the hand ³  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. ⁴  40:2 By means of divine visions ⁵  he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain, ⁶  and on it was a structure like a city, to the south. 40:3 When he brought me there, I saw ⁷  a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway. 40:4 The man said to me, “Son of man, watch closely, listen carefully, and pay attention ⁸  to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I can show it to you. ⁹  Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”

40:5 I saw ¹⁰  a wall all around the outside of the temple. ¹¹  In the man’s hand was a measuring stick 10½ feet ¹²  long. He measured the thickness of the wall ¹³  as 10½ feet, ¹⁴  and its height as 10½ feet. 40:6 Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate as 10½ feet deep. ¹⁵  40:7 The alcoves were 10½ feet long and 10½ feet wide; between the alcoves were 8¾ feet. ¹⁶  The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate facing inward was 10½ feet. 40:8 Then he measured the porch of the gate facing inward as 10½ feet. 40:9 He measured the porch of the gate as 14 feet, ¹⁷  and its jambs as 3½ feet; ¹⁸  the porch of the gate faced inward.

[40:1]  ¹ sn That is, Jerusalem.

[40:1]  ² tn April 19, 573 b.c.

[40:1]  ³ tn Or “power.”

[40:1]  ⁴ sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).

[40:2]  ⁵ tn The expression introduces the three major visions of Ezekiel (1:1; 8:3; 40:2).

[40:2]  ⁶ tn The reference to a very high mountain is harmonious with Isa 2:2.

[40:3]  ⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[40:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and set your mind on.”

[40:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “in order to show (it) to you.”

[40:5]  ¹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[40:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[40:5]  ¹² tn Heb “a measuring stick of six cubits, [each] a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section 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). Therefore the measuring stick in the man’s hand was 10.5 feet (3.15 meters) long. 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 feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.

[40:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “building.”

[40:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one rod [or “reed”]” (also a second time in this verse, twice in v. 6, three times in v. 7, and once in v. 8).

[40:6]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds “the one threshold 10½ feet deep.” This is probably an accidental duplication of what precedes. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:517.

[40:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “five cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters) according to the “long” cubit. See the note on the first occurrence of the phrase “10½ feet” in v. 5.

[40:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “eight cubits” (i.e., 4.2 meters).

[40:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “two cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).