Ezekiel 42

1 And he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the cells that were over against the separate place and which were over against the building, toward the north,

[in the vision] the man led me out of the inner courtyard, through [the entrance on] the north side. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a building that was built against the north [of the inner courtyard].

2 before the length of the hundred cubits: the entry was on the north, and the breadth was fifty cubits,

That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.

3 over against the twenty [cubits] that pertained to the inner court, and over against the pavement that pertained to the outer court; there was gallery against gallery in the third [story];

In that building were two rows of rooms, built on three levels, that faced each other. One row of rooms was built against the wall of the inner courtyard, and the other row was built against the wall facing the outer courtyard. The building was 34 feet from the temple.

4 and before the cells was a walk of ten cubits in breadth, [and] a way of a hundred cubits inward; and their entries were toward the north.

Between the [two] rows of rooms there was a walkway that was (17-1/2 feet/5.3 meters) wide and (175 feet/53 meters) long. All its doors were on the north side.

5 And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building.

Each of the upper rows of rooms was narrower than the row of rooms below them, [because the upper rows needed to have a walkway in front of them].

6 For they were in three [stories], but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore [the third story] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle-most from the ground.

The rooms on the upper levels had no pillars to support them like the ones in the courtyard. Instead, each of those row of rooms were supported by the walls of the row of rooms on the level below.

7 And the wall that was without, answering to the cells, toward the outer court in the front of the cells, its length was fifty cubits:

The wall of the building extended (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) past the set of rooms built along the outer courtyard, separating all the rooms from the outer courtyard.

8 for the length of the cells that were against the outer court was fifty cubits; but behold, before the temple it was a hundred cubits.

The row of rooms that were along the outer courtyard was (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) long, and the set of rooms that faced the temple was (175 feet/53 meters) long.

9 And under these cells was the entry from the east, as one goeth into them from the outer court.

The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.

10 In the breadth of the wall of the court toward the south, before the separate place, and before the building, were cells;

On the south [side], along the wall of the outer courtyard, next to the temple courtyard, was a [a building with two] rows of rooms,

11 and a passage before them, like the appearance of the cells that were toward the north, according to their length, according to their breadth and all their goings out, and according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

with a walkway between them. Those rooms were like the rooms on the north [side]: they were the same length and width, and had the same kind of entrances.

12 And according to the doors of the cells that were toward the south there was a door at the head of the way, the way directly before the corresponding wall toward the east as one entereth into them.

The doorways on the south side were similar to the doorways on the north side. There was an entrance in the wall that faced the doors of the set of rooms, and there was an entrance on the east side, at the end of the inside walkway.

13 And he said unto me, The north cells [and] the south cells, which are before the separate place, they are holy cells, where the priests that come near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things; there shall they lay the most holy things, both the oblation and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering: for the place is holy.

Then the man said to me, “These rooms that overlook the temple on the north and south sides are holy. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to Yahweh will [their portions of] the sacred offerings. Because these rooms are holy, they will be used to store the sacred offerings: [the grain for] the grain offerings, the offerings for the sins that people have committed, and offerings in order that people will no longer be guilty for having sinned.

14 When the priests enter in, they shall not go forth from the sanctuary into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister, for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which is for the people.

When the priests leave the temple, they will not be allowed to [immediately] enter the outer courtyard. First, they must remove the clothes that they had been wearing inside the temple, because those clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before they enter the parts [of the temple area] where the [other] people [gather].”

15 And when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose front was toward the east, and measured [the enclosure] round about.

When the man had finished measuring the inside of the temple area, he led me out through the east entrance [of the outer courtyard] and measured all the way around the temple area.

16 He measured the east side with the measuring-reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about.

He measured the four sides of the area. There was a wall around the area that was (875 feet/265 meters) long on each side.

17 He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about.

18 He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed.

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

20 He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall round about, five hundred long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.