Ezekiel 42

Description of Rooms for the Priests

1 And he brought me out to the outer courtyard {to the north}, and he brought me to the chamber which [was] opposite the courtyard and which [is] opposite the building to the north.
2 [As] to [the] face of [the] length [of the building] [with] the doorway to the north, [it] [was] a hundred cubits, and its width [was] fifty cubits.
3 Opposite the twenty [cubits] {of the inner courtyard}, and opposite [the] pavement that [was] to the outer courtyard [was] a gallery {facing} a gallery in the three [stories].
4 And {in front of} the chambers [was] a passageway ten cubits [in] width toward the inside, a walkway of one cubit, and their doorways [were] to the north.
5 And the upper chambers narrowed, for [the] galleries took away [space] from them more than [they took] from the lower [levels] and more than [they took] from the middle [level] [in the] building.
6 For they [were] three stories and {they had no pillars} like the pillars of the courtyards; therefore they were smaller than the lower [stories] and than the middle [stories] from the ground [up].
7 And [there was] a wall that was to the outside {alongside} the chambers [on] the walkway to the outer courtyard {in front of} the chambers; its length [was] fifty cubits.
8 For the length of the chambers which [were] to the outer courtyard [was] fifty cubits, and look! [The chambers] on the front of the temple [were] a hundred cubits.
9 And from under these chambers [was] the entrance from the east for them {when one enters} from the outer courtyard.
10 All along the width of the wall of the courtyard {eastward} in front of the courtyard to the front of the building [were] chambers.
11 And a walkway [was] {before them} like the appearance of the chambers which [were on] {the north}, [just] like [them in] their length, [and] so [was] their width and all their exits, and [they were built] like their arrangements and like their doorways,
12 and like the doorways of the chambers which [were on] the way of the south [was] [a] doorway at the head of the way {before} the stone wall, projecting [on] the way of the east at their coming.
13 And he said to me, "The chambers of the north [and] the chambers of the south which [are] {before} the courtyard, they {are the holy chambers} in which the priests, who [are] near to Yahweh, will eat the {most holy objects}. There they shall put the {most holy objects}, and the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place [is] holy.
14 {When the priests enter}, then they shall not go out from the sanctuary to the outer courtyard; and there they must put their garments in which they serve because they [are] holy. They must put on other garments and [then] they may approach [the area] that [is] for the people.
15 And he completed the measurements of the inner temple, and he brought me [to] the walkway of the gate {that faces toward the east} and he measured it {all the way around}.
16 He measured the east side with the reed for measuring, five hundred cubits, with [respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement, [he measured it] all around.
17 He measured the north side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement all around.
18 [Then] he measured the south side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement.
19 He went around the west side [and] he measured five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement.
20 {Toward the four sides} he measured it; [there] [was] a wall for it {all the way around}. [Its] length [was] five hundred [cubits] and [its] width [was] five hundred [cubits], in order to make [a] separation between what is holy and what is common.

Footnotes 50

  • [a]. Literally "[to] the way of the north"
  • [b]. Or "along the face of"
  • [c]. That is, 175 feet
  • [d]. Or "the"
  • [e]. That is, 87.5 feet
  • [f]. Literally "which [were] to the courtyard the inner"
  • [g]. Literally "to[ward] in the face/front of"
  • [h]. Literally "to the face of"
  • [i]. That is, 17.5 feet
  • [j]. One cubit of 18-21 inches is problematic; LXX and Syriac read 100 cubits (175 feet) running the length of the building
  • [k]. Or "there"
  • [l]. Literally "there were not for them pillars"
  • [m]. Or "as"
  • [n]. Or "for"
  • [o]. Literally "to the outside to corresponding"
  • [p]. Or "of"
  • [q]. That is, "to the north"
  • [r]. Literally "to in face of"
  • [s]. That is, 87.5 feet
  • [t]. Hebrew "cubit"
  • [u]. Or "while"
  • [v]. Hebrew "cubit"
  • [w]. That is, 87.5 feet
  • [x]. Or "yet!"
  • [y]. Hebrew "cubit"
  • [z]. That is, 175 feet
  • [aa]. Reading the Ketiv
  • [ab]. Literally "at/in his/its coming"
  • [ac]. Literally "on the way of the east"
  • [ad]. Literally "was to the face of them"
  • [ae]. Literally "[were on] the way of the north"
  • [af]. Dropping one "way"
  • [ag]. Or "protecting wall"
  • [ah]. Or "toward"
  • [ai]. That is, when people entered the complex
  • [aj]. Literally "to the front of"
  • [ak]. Literally "[are] the chambers of the holiness"
  • [al]. Literally "holy objects of the holy objects"
  • [am]. Literally "holy objects of the holy objects"
  • [an]. Literally "at coming their"
  • [ao]. Or "deposit/leave/remove"
  • [ap]. Literally "which its face [is to] the way of the east"
  • [aq]. Literally "all around, all around"
  • [ar]. Or "rod"
  • [as]. Literally "of measuring"
  • [at]. Hebrew has "reeds" here (= 5,250 feet), which is not correct; 500 cubits = 875 feet.
  • [au]. Or "side toward/to the sea"
  • [av]. Literally "toward the four winds"
  • [aw]. Literally "all around, all around"
  • [ax]. That is, 875 feet

Ezekiel 42 Commentaries

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.