Ezekiel 40-43

Living Bible

40 Early in April of the twenty-fifth year of our exile—the fourteenth year after Jerusalem was captured—the hand of the Lord was upon me, ² and in a vision he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a high mountain where I saw what appeared to be a city opposite me. ³ Going nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze, standing beside the Temple gate,^[a] holding in his hand a measuring tape and a measuring stick.

⁴ He said to me: “Son of dust, watch and listen and take to heart everything I show you, for you have been brought here so I can show you many things; and then you are to return to the people of Israel to tell them all you have seen.” ⁵ The man began to measure the wall around the outside of the Temple area with his measuring stick, which was 10-1/2 feet long. He told me, “This wall is 10-1/2 feet high and 10-1/2 feet wide.” ⁶ Then he took me over to the passageway that goes through the eastern wall. We climbed the seven steps into the entrance, and he measured the entry hall of the passage; it was 10-1/2 feet wide.

^7-12 Walking on through the passageway I saw that there were three guardrooms on each side; each of these rooms was 10-1/2 feet square, with a distance of 8-3/4 feet along the wall between them. In front of these rooms was a low barrier 18 inches high and 18 inches wide.^[b] Beyond the guardrooms was a 10-1/2-foot doorway opening into a 14-foot hall with 3-1/2-foot columns. Beyond this hall, at the inner end of the passageway, was a vestibule 22-3/4 feet wide and 17-1/2 feet long.

¹³ Then he measured the entire outside width of the passageway, measuring across the roof from the outside doors of the guardrooms; this distance was 43-3/4 feet. ¹⁴ Then he estimated the pillars on each side of the porch to be about 100 feet high. ¹⁵ The full length of the entrance passage was 87-1/2 feet from one end to the other. ¹⁶ There were windows that narrowed inward through the walls along both sides of the passageway and along the guardroom walls. The windows were also in the exit and in the entrance halls. The pillars were decorated with palm tree decorations.

¹⁷ And so we passed through the passageway to the court inside. A stone pavement ran around the inside of the walls, and thirty rooms were built against the walls, opening onto this pavement. ¹⁸ This was called “the lower pavement.” It extended out from the walls into the court the same distance as the passageway did.

¹⁹ Then he measured across to the wall on the other side of this court (which was called “the outer court” of the Temple)^[c] and found that the distance was 175 feet. ²⁰ As I followed, he left the eastern passageway and went over to the passage through the northern wall and measured it. ²¹ Here, too, there were three guardrooms on each side, and all the measurements were the same as for the east passageway—87-1/2 feet long and 43-3/4 feet from side to side across the top of the guardrooms. ²² There were windows, an entry hall, and the palm tree decorations just the same as on the east side. And there were seven steps leading up to the doorway to the entry hall inside.

²³ Here at the north entry, just as at the east, if one walked through the passageway into the court and straight across it, he came to an inner wall and a passageway through it to an inner court. The distance between the two passageways was 175 feet. ²⁴ Then he took me around to the south gate and measured the various sections of its passageway and found they were just the same as in the others. ²⁵ It had windows along the walls as the others did, and an entry hall. And like the others, it was 87-1/2 feet long and 43-3/4 feet wide. ²⁶ It, too, had a stairway of seven steps leading up to it, and there were palm tree decorations along the walls. ²⁷ And here again, if one walked through the passageway into the court and straight across it, he came to the inner wall and a passageway through it to the inner court. And the distance between the passageways was 175 feet.

²⁸ Then he took me over to the inner wall and its south passageway. He measured this passageway and found that it had the same measurements as the passageways of the outer wall.^{[d] 29-30} Its guardrooms, pillars, and entrance and exit hall were identical to all the others, and so were the windows along its walls and entry. And, like the others, it was 87-1/2 feet long by 43-3/4 feet wide.^{[e] 31} The only difference was that it had eight steps leading up to it instead of seven. It had palm tree decorations on the pillars, just as the others.

³² Then he took me along the court to the eastern entrance of the inner wall, and measured it. It, too, had the same measurements as the others. ³³ Its guardrooms, pillars, and entrance hall were the same size as those of the other passageways, and there were windows along the walls and in the entry hall; and it was 87-1/2 feet long by 43-3/4 feet wide. ³⁴ Its entry hall faced the outer court, and there were palm tree decorations on its columns, but there were eight steps instead of seven going up to the entrance.

³⁵ Then he took me around to the north gate of the inner wall, and the measurements there were just like the others: ³⁶ The guardrooms, pillars, and entry hall of this passageway were the same as the others, with a length of 87-1/2 feet and a width of 43-3/4 feet. ³⁷ Its entry hall faced toward the outer court; it had palm tree decorations on the walls of each side of the passageway, and there were eight steps leading up to the entrance.

³⁸ But a door led from its entry hall into a side room where the flesh of the sacrifices was washed before being taken to the altar; ³⁹ on each side of the entry hall of the passageway there were two tables where the animals for sacrifice were slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings to be presented in the Temple. ⁴⁰ Outside the entry hall, on each side of the stairs going up to the north entrance, there were two more tables. ⁴¹ So, in all there were eight tables, four inside and four outside, where the sacrifices were cut up and prepared. ⁴² There were also four stone tables where the butchering knives and other implements were laid. These tables were about 2-5/8 feet square and 1-3/4 feet high. ⁴³ There were hooks, 3 or 4 inches long, fastened along the walls of the entry hall, and on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid.

⁴⁴ In the inner court there were two one-room buildings, one beside the northern entrance, facing south, and one beside the southern entrance, facing north.

⁴⁵ And he said to me: “The building beside the inner northern gate is for the priests who supervise the maintenance. ⁴⁶ The building beside the inner southern entrance is for the priests in charge of the altar—the descendants of Zadok—for they alone of all the Levites may come near to the Lord to minister to him.”

⁴⁷ Then he measured the inner court in front of the Temple^[f] and found it to be 175 feet square, and there was an altar in the court, standing in front of the Temple. ^48-49 Then he brought me to the entrance hall of the Temple. Ten steps led up to it from the inner court. Its walls extended up on either side to form two pillars, each of them 8-3/4 feet thick. The entrance was 24-1/2 feet wide with 5-1/4-foot walls. Thus the entry hall was 35 feet wide and 19-1/4 feet long.

41 Afterward he brought me into the nave, the large main room of the Temple, and measured the pillars that formed its doorway. They were 10-1/2 feet square. ² The entrance hall was 17-1/2 feet wide and 8-3/4 feet deep. The nave itself was 70 feet long by 35 feet.

³ Then he went into the inner room at the end of the nave and measured the columns at the entrance and found them to be 3-1/2 feet thick; its doorway was 10-1/2 feet wide, with a hallway 12-1/4 feet deep behind it. ⁴ The inner room was 35 feet square. “This,” he told me, “is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the Temple and found that it was 10-1/2 feet thick, with a row of rooms along the outside. Each room was 7 feet wide. ⁶ These rooms were in three tiers, one above the other, with thirty rooms in each tier. The whole structure was supported by girders and not attached to the Temple wall for support. ⁷ Each tier was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway at the side of the Temple led up from floor to floor.

⁸ I noticed that the Temple was built on a terrace and that the bottom row of rooms extended out 10-1/2 feet onto the terrace. ⁹ The outer wall of these rooms was 8-3/4 feet thick, leaving a free space of 8-3/4 feet out to the edge of the terrace, the same on both sides.

¹⁰ Thirty-five feet away from the terrace, on both sides of the Temple, was another row of rooms down in the inner court. ¹¹ Two doors opened from the tiers of rooms to the terrace yard, which was 8-3/4 feet wide; one door faced north and the other south.

¹² A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple yard, measuring 122-1/2 feet wide by 157-1/2 feet long. Its walls were 8-3/4 feet thick. ¹³ Then he measured the Temple and its immediately surrounding yards. The area was 175 feet square. ¹⁴ The inner court at the east of the Temple was also 175 feet wide, ^15-16 and so was the building west of the Temple, including its two walls.

The nave of the Temple and the Holy of Holies and the entry hall were paneled, and all three had recessed windows. The inner walls of the Temple were paneled with wood above and below the windows. ^17-18 The space above the door leading into the Holy of Holies was also paneled. The walls were decorated with carvings of Guardian Angels, each with two faces, and of palm trees alternating with the Guardian Angels. ^19-20 One face—that of a man—looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the other face—that of a young lion—looked toward the palm tree on the other side. And so it was, all around the inner wall of the Temple.

²¹ There were square doorposts at the doors of the nave, and in front of the Holy of Holies was what appeared to be an altar, but it was made of wood. ²² This altar was 3-1/2 feet square and 5-1/4 feet high; its corners, base, and sides were all of wood. “This,” he told me, “is the Table of the Lord.”^[g]

²³ Both the nave and the Holy of Holies had double doors, ²⁴ each with two swinging sections. ²⁵ The doors leading into the nave were decorated with cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. And there was a wooden canopy over the entry hall. ²⁶ There were recessed windows and carved palm trees on both sides of the entry hall, the hallways beside the Temple, and on the canopy over the entrance.

42 Then he led me out of the Temple, back into the inner court to the rooms north of the Temple yard, and to another building. ² This group of structures was 175 feet long by 87-1/2 feet wide. ³ The rows of rooms behind this building were the inner wall of the court. The rooms were in three tiers, overlooking the outer court on one side, and having a 35-foot strip of inner court on the other. ⁴ A 17-1/2-foot walk ran between the building and the tiers of rooms, extending the entire length, with the doors of the building facing north. ⁵ The upper two tiers of rooms were not as wide as the lower one, because the upper tiers had wider walkways beside them. ⁶ And since the building was not built with girders as those in the outer court were, the upper stories were set back from the ground floor.

^7-8 The north tiers, next to the outer court, were 87-1/2 feet long—only half as long as the inner wing that faced the Temple court, which was 175 feet long. But a wall extended from the end of the shorter wing, parallel to the longer wing. ^9-10 And there was an entrance from the outer court to these rooms from the east. On the opposite side of the Temple a similar building composed of two units of tiers was on the south side of the inner court, between the Temple and the outer court, arranged the same as the other. ¹¹ There was a walk between the two wings of the building, the same as in the other building across the court—the same length and width and the same exits and doors—they were identical units. ¹² And there was a door from the outer court^[h] at the east.

¹³ Then he told me: “These north and south tiers of rooms facing the Temple yard are holy; there the priests who offer up the sacrifices to the Lord shall eat of the most holy offerings and store them—the cereal offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, for these rooms are holy. ¹⁴ When the priests leave the Holy Place—the nave of the Temple—they must change their clothes before going out to the outer court. The special robes in which they have been ministering must first be removed, for these robes are holy. They must put on other clothes before entering the parts of the building open to the public.”

¹⁵ When he had finished making these measurements, he led me out through the east passageway to measure the entire Temple area. ^16-20 He found that it was in the form of a square, 875 feet long on each side, with a wall all around it to separate the restricted area from the public places.^[i]

43 Afterward he brought me out again to the passageway through the outer wall leading to the east. ² And suddenly the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape lighted up with his glory. ³ It was just as I had seen it in the other visions, first by the Chebar Canal, and then later at Jerusalem^[j] when he came to destroy the city. And I fell down before him with my face in the dust. ⁴ And the glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the eastern passageway.

⁵ Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple. ⁶ And I heard the Lord speaking to me from within the Temple (the man who had been measuring was still standing beside me).

⁷ And the Lord said to me:

“Son of dust, this is the place of my throne and my footstool, where I shall remain, living among the people of Israel forever. They and their kings will not defile my holy name any longer through the adulterous worship of other gods or by worshiping the totem poles erected by their kings. ⁸ They built their idol temples beside mine, with only a wall between, and worshiped their idols. Because they sullied my holy name by such wickedness, I consumed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them put away their idols and the totem poles^[k] erected by their kings, and I will live among them forever.

¹⁰ “Son of dust, describe the Temple I have shown you to the people of Israel. Tell them its appearance and its plan so they will be ashamed of all their sins. ¹¹ And if they are truly ashamed of what they have done, then explain to them the details of its construction—its doors and entrances—and everything about it. Write out all the directions and the rules for them to keep. ¹² And this is the basic law of the Temple: Holiness! The entire top of the hill where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the primary law concerning it.

¹³ “And these are the measurements of the altar: The base is 21 inches high, with a 9-inch rim around its edge, and it extends 21 inches beyond the altar on all sides. ¹⁴ The first stage of the altar is a stone platform 3-1/2 feet high. This platform is 21 inches narrower than the base block on all sides. Rising from this is a narrower platform, 21 inches narrower on all sides, and 7 feet high. ¹⁵ From it a still narrower platform rises 7 feet, and this is the top of the altar, with four horns projecting 21 inches up from the corners. ¹⁶ This top platform of the altar is 21 feet square. ¹⁷ The platform beneath it is 24-1/2 feet square with a 10-1/2-inch curb around the edges. The entire platform extends out from the top 21 inches on all sides. On the east side are steps to climb the altar.”

¹⁸ And he said to me:

“Son of dust, the Lord God says: These are the measurements of the altar to be made in the future, when it is erected for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood upon it. ¹⁹ At that time the Zadok family of the Levite tribe, who are my ministers, are to be given a bullock for a sin offering. ²⁰ You shall take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the top platform and in the curb around it. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar. ²¹ Then take the bullock for the sin offering and burn it at the appointed place outside the Temple area.

²² “The second day, sacrifice a young male goat without any defects—without sickness, deformities, cuts, or scars—for a sin offering. Thus the altar shall be cleansed, as it was by the bullock. ²³ When you have finished this cleansing ceremony, offer another perfect bullock and a perfect ram from the flock. ²⁴ Present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them as a burnt offering.

²⁵ “Every day for seven days a male goat, a bullock, and a ram from the flock shall be sacrificed as a sin offering. None are to have any defects or unhealthiness of any kind. ²⁶ Do this each day for seven days to cleanse and make atonement for the altar, thus consecrating it. ²⁷ On the eighth day, and on each day afterward, the priests will sacrifice on the altar the burnt offerings and thank offerings of the people, and I will accept you, says the Lord God.”