The Prophet Ezekiel

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- Chapter 41 -

And he led me into the temple, and he measured the front to be six cubits in width on one side, and six cubits in width on the other side, which is the width of the tabernacle.(a)

And the width of the gate was ten cubits. And the sides of the gate were five cubits on one side, and five cubits on the other side. And he measured its length to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.

And proceeding inward, he measured the front of the gate to be two cubits. And the gate was six cubits, and the width of the gate was seven cubits.

And he measured its length to be twenty cubits, and its width to be twenty cubits, before the face of the temple. And he said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”

Outside the Temple

And he measured the wall of the house to be six cubits, and the width of the sides to be four cubits, all around the house on every side.

Now the side chambers were side by side, and twice thirty-three. And they projected outward, so that they might enter along the wall of the house, on the sides all around, in order to contain, but not touch, the wall of the temple.(b)

And there was a broad circular path, rising upward by winding, and it led to the cenacle of the temple by a circular course. As a result, the temple was wider in the higher parts. And so, from the lower parts, they rose up to the higher parts, in the center.

And in the house, I saw the height all around the foundations of the side chambers, which were the measure of a reed, the space of six cubits.

And the width of the exterior wall for the side chambers was five cubits. And the inner house was within the side chambers of the house.(c)

And between the storerooms, there was the width of twenty cubits, all around the house on every side.

And the door of the side chambers was toward the place of prayer. One door was toward the way of the north, and one door was toward the way of the south. And the width of the place for prayer was five cubits all around.

And the edifice, which was separate, and which verged toward the way looking toward the sea, was seventy cubits in width. But the wall of the edifice was five cubits in width on all sides, and its length was ninety cubits.

And he measured the length of the house to be one hundred cubits, and the edifice, which was separate, with its walls, to be one hundred cubits in length.

Now the width before the face of the house, and of that which was separate facing the east, was one hundred cubits.

The Interior Structures

And he measured the length of the edifice opposite its face, which was separated at the back, and the porticos on both sides, to be one hundred cubits, with the inner temple and the vestibules of the court.

The thresholds, and the oblique windows, and the porticoes, encircling it on three sides, were opposite the threshold of each one, and were floored with wood throughout the entire area. But the floor reached even to the windows, and the windows were closed above the doors;

and it reached even to the inner house, and to the exterior, throughout the entire wall, all around the interior and exterior, for the entire extent.

And there were cherubim and palm trees wrought, and each palm tree was between one cherub and another, and every cherub had two faces.

The face of a man was closest to the palm tree on one side, and the face of a lion was closest to the palm tree on the other side. This was depicted throughout the entire house all around.

From the floor, even to the upper parts of the gate, there were cherubim and palm trees engraved in the wall of the temple.

The square threshold and the face of the sanctuary were one sight facing the other.(d)

(e)

The altar of wood was three cubits in height, and its length was two cubits. And its corners, and its length, and its walls were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table in the sight of the Lord.”

And there were two doors in the temple and in the sanctuary.

And in the two doors, on both sides, were two little doors, which were folded within each other. For two doors were on both sides of the doors.

And cherubim were engraved in the same doors of the temple, with the figures of palm trees, as were depicted also on the walls. For this reason also, the boards were thicker in the front of the vestibule on the exterior.

Upon these were the oblique windows, with the representation of palm trees on one side as well as on the other, at the sides of the vestibule, in accord with the sides of the house, and the width of the walls.

Footnotes

(a)41:1 The temple:This plan of a temple, which was here shown to the prophet in a vision, partly had relation to the material temple, which was to be rebuilt: and partly, in a mystical sense, to the spiritual temple of God, the church of Christ.(Challoner)

(b)41:6 One by another:Or one over another; literally, side to side, or side upon side.(Challoner)

(c)41:9 And the inner house was within the side chambers of the house:Because these side chambers were in the very walls of the temple all round. Or, it may also be rendered (more agreeably to the Hebrew) so as to signify that the thickness of the wall for the side chamber within, was the same as that of the wall without; that is, equally five cubits.(Challoner)

(d)41:21 In other words, the front of the sanctuary was aligned with the threshold, so that the sanctuary could be seen through the threshold.(Conte)

(e)41:21 The threshold was foursquare:That is, the gate of the temple was foursquare: and so placed as to answer the gate of the sanctuary within.(Challoner)

He brought me to the nave and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent.

The width of the entrance was ten cubits,(a) and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.

He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

Outside the Temple

Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.

The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house.

The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.

I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.

The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.

Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.

The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.

The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;

also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.

The Interior Structures

He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court,

the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),

to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.

It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,

so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around.

Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.

The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple.

The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other.

There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.

There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the temple and the thresholds were arranged.

Footnotes

(a)41:2 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.