Ezekiel 41:7

7 The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.

Ezekiel 41:7 in Other Translations

7 And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.

7 And it became broader as it wound upward to the side chambers, because the temple was enclosed upward all around the temple. Thus the temple had a broad area upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the top story through the middle story.

7 Each level was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway led up from the bottom level through the middle level to the top level.

7 The side rooms around the Temple became wider from first floor to second floor to third floor. A staircase went from the bottom floor, through the middle, and then to the top floor.

7 The side rooms surrounding [the temple] widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple [went up] by stages. This was the reason for the temple's broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.

Ezekiel 41:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 41:7

And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to
the side chambers
These chambers, as they rose up in stories one above another, were larger and larger; those in the middlemost storey were larger than those in the lower storey by a cubit; so much being taken out of the thickness of the wall, to make the rests or rebatements for the beams of the floor to rest upon, by which so much was gained in breadth for the chambers; and those in the upper storey, for the same reason, were a cubit broader than those in the middle, and two cubits broader than the lowermost; the floor of the first and lower storey was four cubits broad, ( Ezekiel 41:5 ) the floor of the second five cubits; and the floor of the third or uppermost six cubits. The wall of the temple at the bottom was six cubits thick, ( Ezekiel 41:5 ) , at the middlemost storey five cubits; and at the uppermost four: and all this may denote the enlargement of the church of Christ, as it comes nearer the heavenly state; the present state of the church may be signified by the lower storey, where the chambers are narrowest; the state of the church in the latter day glory, or spiritual reign of Christ, by the middlemost, when it will be enlarged; its converts being very numerous, ( Isaiah 49:19 Isaiah 49:20 ) ( Isaiah 60:4 Isaiah 60:5 ) and the New Jerusalem church state by the uppermost storey; which city or state will be very large, and next to heaven, or the ultimate glory; see ( Revelation 21:16 ) . The "winding" that went upwards to the side chambers were winding stairs, which went up from one storey to another, higher and higher; see ( 1 Kings 6:8 ) . The Misnic doctors say ^F3, that in the second temple these winding stairs went from one side of the temple to the other, from the north east to the northwest; by which they went up to the roofs of these chambers and to the upper room over the sanctuary. These may signify the various afflictions and tribulations, trials and exercises, in which the Lord leads his people, and by which the churches of Christ pass from one state to another: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the
house:
not on the outside, but within; properly round about the chambers, which are here called the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward;
became broader and broader, as it rose up higher and higher: and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst;
from being only four cubits broad in the lowest storey, it became five cubits in the middlemost, and from thence six cubits in the highest.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5.

Ezekiel 41:7 In-Context

5 Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits wide.

6 The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple.

7 The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.

8 I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits.

9 The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 6:8