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41 Next, the man took me into the central room, the Holy Place. He measured the passageway into it: it was 10 feet deep[a] and 18 feet wide, with walls 8 feet thick on either side. He measured the room itself: it was 68 feet long and 34 feet wide.

Then he went to the innermost room. He measured the passageway into it: it was 3 feet deep and 10 feet wide, with walls on either side 12 feet thick.[b] He measured the room itself, and it was 34 feet square. This room was beyond the central room. Then he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

The Rooms Built against the Temple Walls

The man measured the thickness of the inner wall of the Temple building, and it was 10 feet. Against this wall, all around the Temple, was a series of small rooms 7 feet wide. These rooms were in three stories, with thirty rooms on each floor. The Temple's outer wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without being anchored into it. And so the Temple walls, when seen from the outside, seemed to have the same thickness all the way to the top. Against the Temple's outer wall, on the outside of the rooms, two wide stairways were built, so that it was possible to go from the lower story to the middle and the upper stories.[c] 8-11 The outside wall of these rooms was 8 feet thick; there was one door into the rooms on the north side of the Temple, and one into those on the south side. I saw that there was a terrace 8 feet wide around the Temple; it was 10 feet above the ground and it was level with the foundation of the rooms by the Temple walls. Between the terrace and the buildings used by the priests there was an open space 34 feet across, along the sides of the Temple.

The Building on the West

12 At the far end of the open space on the west side of the Temple there was a building 150 feet long and 116 feet wide; its walls were 9 feet thick all around.

The Total Measurements of the Temple Building

13 The man measured the outside of the Temple, and it was 168 feet long. And from the back of the Temple, across the open space to the far side of the building to the west, the distance was also 168 feet. 14 The distance across the front of the Temple, including the open space on either side, was also 168 feet. 15 He measured the length of the building to the west, including its galleries on both sides, and it was also 168 feet.

Details of the Temple Building

The entrance room of the Temple, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place 16 were all paneled with wood from the floor to the windows. These windows could be covered.[d] 17 The inside walls of the Temple, up as high as above the doors, were completely covered with carvings[e] 18 of palm trees and winged creatures. Palm trees alternated with creatures, one following the other, all the way around the room. Each creature had two faces: 19 a human face that was turned toward the palm tree on one side, and a lion's face that was turned toward the tree on the other side. It was like this all around the wall, 20 from the floor to above the doors. 21 The doorposts of the Holy Place were square.

The Wooden Altar

In front of the entrance of the Most Holy Place there was something that looked like 22 a wooden altar. It was 5 feet high and 4 feet wide. Its corner posts, its base,[f] and its sides were all made of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table which stands in the presence of the Lord.”

The Doors

23 There was a door at the end of the passageway to the Holy Place and one also at the end of the passageway to the Most Holy Place. 24 They were double doors that swung open in the middle. 25 There were palm trees and winged creatures carved on the doors of the Holy Place, just as there were on the walls. And there was a wooden covering over the outside of the doorway of the entrance room. 26 At the sides of this room there were windows, and the walls were decorated with palm trees.[g]

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 41:1 Hebrew has two additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.
  2. Ezekiel 41:3 One ancient translation with walls on either side 12 feet thick; Hebrew and 12 feet thick.
  3. Ezekiel 41:7 Verse 7 in Hebrew is unclear.
  4. Ezekiel 41:16 Verse 16 in Hebrew is unclear.
  5. Ezekiel 41:17 Verse 17 in Hebrew is unclear.
  6. Ezekiel 41:22 Some ancient translations base; Hebrew length.
  7. Ezekiel 41:26 Hebrew has three additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.

41 Then the man brought me to the main hall(A) and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits[a] on each side.[b] The entrance was ten cubits[c] wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits[d] wide. He also measured the main hall; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.[e](B)

Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits[f] wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits[g] wide. And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall.(C) He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.(D)

Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits[h] wide. The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty(E) 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.(F) 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(G) went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.

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. The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple 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[i] wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.[j]

13 Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits[k] 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.(H)

15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries(I) on each side; it was a hundred cubits.

The main hall, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court, 16 as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows(J) and galleries around the three of them—everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered.(K) 17 In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary 18 were carved(L) cherubim(M) and palm trees.(N) Palm trees alternated with cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:(O) 19 the face of a human being toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple.(P) 20 From the floor to the area above the entrance, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the main hall.

21 The main hall(Q) had a rectangular doorframe, and the one at the front of the Most Holy Place was similar. 22 There was a wooden altar(R) three cubits[l] high and two cubits square[m]; its corners, its base[n] and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table(S) that is before the Lord.” 23 Both the main hall(T) and the Most Holy Place had double doors.(U) 24 Each door had two leaves—two hinged leaves(V) for each door. 25 And on the doors of the main hall were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. 26 On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs.(W)

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 41:1 That is, about 11 feet or about 3.2 meters; also in verses 3, 5 and 8
  2. Ezekiel 41:1 One Hebrew manuscript and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts side, the width of the tent
  3. Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 18 feet or about 5.3 meters
  4. Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 8 3/4 feet or about 2.7 meters; also in verses 9, 11 and 12
  5. Ezekiel 41:2 That is, about 70 feet long and 35 feet wide or about 21 meters long and 11 meters wide
  6. Ezekiel 41:3 That is, about 3 1/2 feet or about 1.1 meters; also in verse 22
  7. Ezekiel 41:3 That is, about 12 feet or about 3.7 meters
  8. Ezekiel 41:5 That is, about 7 feet or about 2.1 meters
  9. Ezekiel 41:12 That is, about 123 feet or about 37 meters
  10. Ezekiel 41:12 That is, about 158 feet or about 48 meters
  11. Ezekiel 41:13 That is, about 175 feet or about 53 meters; also in verses 14 and 15
  12. Ezekiel 41:22 That is, about 5 1/4 feet or about 1.5 meters
  13. Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew long
  14. Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew length