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].
And he brought me into the inner court eastward, opposite the northern gate: and he brought me in, and behold five chambers near the vacant space, and near the northern partition,
2 That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.
a hundred cubits in length toward the north, and in breadth fifty,
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.
ornamented accordingly as the gates of the inner court, and arranged accordingly as the peristyles of the outer court, [with] triple porticos fronting one another.
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 in front of the chambers was a walk ten cubits in breadth, the length [reaching] to a hundred cubits; and their doors were northward.
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].
And the upper walks were in like manner: for the peristyle projected from it, [even] from the range of columns below, and [there was] a space between; so [were there] a peristyle and a space between, and so [were there] two porticos.
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 triple, and they had not pillars like the pillars of the outer ones: therefore they projected from the lower ones and the middle ones 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 [there was] light without, corresponding to the chambers of the outer court looking toward the front of the northern chambers; the length [of them 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 looking toward the inner court was fifty cubits, and these are the ones that front the others; the whole was a hundred cubits.
9 The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.
And [there were] doors of these chambers for an outlet toward the east, so that one should go through them out of 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,
by the opening of the walk at the corner; and the south parts were toward the south, toward the remaining space, and toward the partition, and [so were] the 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 walk was in front of them, according to the measures of the chambers toward the north, both according to the length of them, and according to the breadth of them, and according to all their openings, an according to all their turnings, and according to their lights, 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.
[So were the measures] of the chambers toward the south, and according to the doors at the entrance of the walk, as it were the distance of a reed for light, and eastward as one went in by 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.
And he said to me, The chambers toward the north, and the chambers toward the south, in front of the void spaces, these are the chambers of the sanctuary, wherein the priests the sons of Sadduc, who draw night to the Lord, shall eat the most holy things: and there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; because 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].”
None shall go in there except the priests, [and] they shall not go forth of the holy place into the outer court, that they that draw near [to me] may be continually holy, and may not touch their garments in which they minister, [with defilement], for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments whenever they come in contact with 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.
So the measurement of the house within was accomplished: and he brought me forth by the way of the gate that looks eastward, and measured the plan of the house round about in order.
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.
And he stood behind the gate looking eastward, and measured five hundred [cubits] with the measuring reed.
And he turned to the north and measured in front of the north [side] five hundred cubits with the measuring reed.
And he turned to the west, and measured in front of the west side, five hundred [cubits] with the measuring reed.
And he turned to the south, and measured in front of the south side, five hundred [cubits] by the measuring reed.
20 That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.
The [four sides he measured] by the same reed, and he marked out the house and the circumference of the parts round about, [a space] of five hundred [cubits] eastward, and a breadth of five hundred cubits, to make a division between the sanctuary and the outer wall, that [belonged to] the design of the house.
