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].
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.
2 That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.
Those rooms were one hundred cubits along their front and fifty cubits in width.
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.
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.
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.
A passage ten cubits in width and one hundred cubits in length ran in front of the rooms. The rooms' 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].
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.
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 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.
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.
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 in length.
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.
The length of the rooms of the outer courtyard was fifty cubits, and the rooms facing the sanctuary were one hundred cubits in length.
9 The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.
There was an entrance to the lowest rooms from the east side, coming from the outer courtyard.
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,
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
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.
with a walkway in front of them. They were as the appearance of the rooms on the northern side. They had the same length and breadth and the same exits and arrangements and 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.”
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.
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.
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 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.
20 That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.
He measured it on four sides. It had a wall around it that was five hundred cubits in length, and five hundred cubits in width, to separate the holy from that which is common.
