Ezekiel 42

1 And he brought me forth into the outward court by the way that leadeth to the north, and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate building, and over against the house 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 In the face of the north door was the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth of 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 of the inner court, and over against the pavement of the outward court that was paved with stone, where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery.

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 chambers was a walk ten cubits broad, looking to the inner parts of a way of one cubit. And their doors 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 Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from the lower parts, and from the midst 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 of three stories, and had not pillars, as the pillars of the courts: therefore did they appear above out of the lower places, and out of the middle places, fifty cubits 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 outward wall that went about by the chambers, which were towards the outward court on the forepart of the chambers, was fifty cubits long.

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 chambers of the outward court was fifty cubits: and the length before the face of the temple, 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 there was under these chambers, an entrance from the east, for them that went into them out of the outward court.

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

10 In the breadth of the outward wall of the court that was toward the east, over against the separate building, and there were chambers before the building.

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 the way before them was like the chambers which were toward the north: they wore as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the going is to them, and their fashions, and their doors were alike.

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 According to the doors of the chambers that were towards the south: there was a door in the head of the way, which way was before the porch, separated towards the east as one entereth in.

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 to me: The chambers of the north, and the chambers of the south, which are before the separate building: they are holy chambers, in which the priests shall eat, that approach to the Lord into the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and the offering for sin, and for trespass: for it is a holy place.

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 And when the priests shall have entered in, they shall not go out of the holy places into the outward court: but there they shall lay their vestments, wherein they minister, for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and so they shall go forth to 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 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate that looked toward the east: and he measured it on every side 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 And he measured toward the east 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 And he measured toward the north five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

18 And towards the south he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

19 And toward the west he measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.

20 By the four winds he measured the wall thereof on every side round about, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits broad, making a separation between the sanctuary and the place of the people.

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