The Prophet Ezekiel

⭑ Unlocked Literal Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 42 -

Next the man sent me out to the outer courtyard on the north side, and he brought me to rooms in front of the outer courtyard and the northern outer wall.

Those rooms were one hundred cubits along their front and fifty cubits wide.

Some of those rooms faced the inner courtyard and were twenty cubits away from the sanctuary. There were three levels of rooms, and the ones above looked down on the ones below and were open to them, having a walkway. Some of the rooms looked out onto the outer courtyard.

A passage ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits long ran in front of the rooms. The rooms’ doors were toward the north.

But the upper halls were smaller, for the walkways took away from them more space than they did in the lowest and middle levels of the building.

For the halls on the third story had no columns, unlike the courtyards, which did have columns. So the highest level’s rooms were smaller in size compared to the rooms in the lowest and middle levels.

The outside wall ran along the rooms toward the outer courtyard, the courtyard that was in front of the rooms. That wall was fifty cubits long.

The length of the rooms of the outer courtyard was fifty cubits, and the rooms facing the sanctuary were one hundred cubits long.

There was an entrance to the lowest rooms from the east side, coming from the outer courtyard.

Along the wall of the outer courtyard on the eastern side of the outer courtyard, in front of the sanctuary’s inner courtyard, there were also rooms.

The walkway in front of them was the same in length and width as the rooms along the northern side. They also had the same number of entrances.

On the south side were doors into rooms that were just the same as on the north side. A passage on the inside had a door at its head, and the passage opened into the various rooms. On the east side there was a doorway into the passage at one end.

Then the man said to me, “The northern rooms and the southern rooms that are in front of the outer courtyard are holy rooms where the priests who work nearest to Yahweh may eat the most holy food. They will put the most holy things there-the food offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering-for this is a holy place.

When the priests enter there, they must not go out of the holy place to the outer court, without laying aside the clothes in which they served, since these are holy. So they must dress in other clothes before going near the people.”

The Outer Measurements

The man completed measuring the inner house and then took me out to the gate that faced the east and measured all the surrounding area there.

He measured the east side with a measuring stick-five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

He measured the north side-five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

He also measured the south side-five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

He also turned and measured the west side-five hundred cubits with the measuring stick.

He measured it on four sides, its wall with it all around had a length of five hundred cubits and a width of five hundred cubits to separate between the holy and the not holy.

Then he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the north. Then he brought me into the room that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north.

Facing the length of one hundred cubits(a) was the north door, and the width was fifty cubits.

Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the three stories.

Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits’ width inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.

Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these more than from the lower and the middle in the building.

For they were in three stories, and they didn’t have pillars as the pillars of the courts. Therefore the uppermost was set back more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.

The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, was fifty cubits long.

For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. Behold, those facing the temple were one hundred cubits.

From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms.

The way before them was like the appearance of the rooms which were toward the north. Their length and width were the same. All their exits had the same arrangement and doors.

Like the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, which are opposite the separate place, are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to the LORD shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, with the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court until they lay their garments in which they minister there; for they are holy. Then they shall put on other garments, and shall approach that which is for the people.”

The Outer Measurements

Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate which faces toward the east, and measured it all around.

He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around.

He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.

He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, the length five hundred cubits, and the width five hundred cubits, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

Footnotes

(a)42:2 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.