Ezekiel 41:12

12 The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits[a] wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.[b]

Ezekiel 41:12 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
12 Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
English Standard Version (ESV)
12 The building that was facing the separate yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
New Living Translation (NLT)
12 A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple courtyard. It was 122 feet wide and 157 feet long, and its walls were 8 feet thick.
The Message Bible (MSG)
12 The house that faced the Temple courtyard to the west was one hundred twenty-two and a half feet wide, with eight-and-three-quarters-foot-thick walls. The length of the wall and building was one hundred fifty-seven and a half feet.
American Standard Version (ASV)
12 And the building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
12 At the far end of the open area, on the west side of the temple, was a building 122½ feet wide. The wall of the building was 9 feet thick all the way around, and it was 157½ feet long.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
12 Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122 and a half feet wide. The wall of the building was eight and three-quarter feet thick on all sides, and the building's length was 157 and a half feet.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
12 There was a large building right behind the temple. It was on the west side of the outer courtyard. It was 122 and a half feet wide. Its wall was almost nine feet thick all around. And it was 157 and a half feet long.

Ezekiel 41:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 41:12

Now the building that was before the separate place
The "separate place" is the holy of holies, which was separated by a vail under the second temple, and by a wall as in this, and the first from the holy place: "before or over against" which was a building, as it is rendered, ( Ezekiel 41:15 ) , a new building, not before taken notice of: and it was situated at the end toward the west:
or "sea" F5, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west to the land of Canaan. The meaning is, that this building was to the west of the temple, at which end stood the holy of holies, and this near to that: what building is here meant is not easy to say, there being nothing in the first or second temple which answered to it: it seems to be a new building; and what the mystical sense of it is cannot be easily guessed at. Cocceius thinks, that as the holy of holies signifies the heavenly or more perfect state of the church on earth, this, being over against it, or behind it, as in ( Ezekiel 41:15 ) , may design heaven itself, the happiness and glory of the saints treasured up and reserved there: it was seventy cubits broad;
Jerom seems to have the same mystical sense in view; since he observes, that after labours and perils, and the floods and shipwrecks of this world for seventy years, we come to enjoy the eternal rest: and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about;
which may answer to the vast gulf fixed between the godly in heaven, and the wicked in hell; so that there is no going the one to the other, ( Luke 16:26 ) : and the length thereof ninety cubits;
there are no outgoings to this building, as Hafenrefferus F6, a German divine, observes; so that those that are brought into it shall ever remain in it, which is the case of the saints in heaven.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Myh) "ad mare, Piscator; obversa mari", Cocceius, Starckius.
F6 Apud Starckius in loc.

Ezekiel 41:12 In-Context

10 and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.
11 There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around.
12 The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.
13 Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.
14 The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. That is, about 123 feet or about 37 meters
  • [b]. That is, about 158 feet or about 48 meters
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.