Ezekiel 42
1 [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].
Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north. And he brought me into the chamber that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north.
2 That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.
In front was the north door, the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
3 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.
Opposite the twenty which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.
4 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.
And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit, and their doors were toward the north.
5 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].
Now the upper chambers were shorter, for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.
6 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.
For they were in three stories, and they did not have pillars as the pillars of the courts. Therefore the uppermost was narrowed more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.
7 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.
And the wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length of it was fifty cubits.
8 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.
For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. And, lo, of those on the front of the temple were a hundred cubits.
9 The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.
And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as going into them from the outer court.
10 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,
In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers.
11 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.
And the way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north. According to their length so was their breadth. And all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.
12 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.
And according to the doors of the chambers 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 entering into them.
13 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.
Then he said to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests that are near to Jehovah shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering, for the place is holy.
14 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].”
When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but they shall lay their garments there in which they minister, for they are holy. And they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people.
15 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.
Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose view is toward the east, and measured it round about.
16 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.
He measured on the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
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.
20 That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.
He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
