Ezekiel

Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north.

1Then the man led me out to the outer court, on the north side. He brought me to the rooms across from the temple yard and across from the building on the north.

2Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.

2The building had its door on the north. It was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.

NoteA cubit was about 18 inches, roughly the length of a grown man's forearm. So a hundred cubits is about 150 feet.

3Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories.

3Balconies faced balconies on three levels. They stood across from the twenty cubits belonging to the inner court and across from the paved area of the outer court.

4And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north.

4In front of the rooms was a walkway ten cubits wide, running inward, and a path one cubit wide. The doors of the rooms faced north.

5Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

5The rooms on the top floor were smaller. The balconies took more space from them than from the rooms on the bottom and middle floors.

6For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.

6The rooms were built in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars in the courts. So the upper floors were set back further than the bottom and middle floors.

7And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.

7Outside, facing the outer court, a wall ran along the front of the rooms. It was fifty cubits long.

8For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred cubits.

8The rooms next to the outer court were fifty cubits long. But the rooms facing the temple were a hundred cubits long.

9And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the utter court.

9Below these rooms was the entrance on the east side, where a person comes in from the outer court.

10The chambers were in the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, over against the separate place, and over against the building.

10There were more rooms built into the thick wall of the court on the east side. They stood across from the temple yard and across from the building.

11And the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

11In front of them was a passage, just like the one by the rooms on the north side. These rooms were the same length and width, with the same exits and the same doors.

12And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them.

12Matching the doors of the rooms on the south side, there was a door at the start of the walkway. That walkway ran beside the wall going east, where people came in.

13Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

13Then the man said to me, "The north rooms and the south rooms facing the temple yard are holy rooms. There the priests who come near the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will also put the most holy offerings: the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. The place is holy.

NoteThe KJV calls the grain offering a "meat offering." In 1611 "meat" meant food of any kind. This offering was made of flour and oil, not animal meat.

14When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people.

14When the priests go into the holy place, they must not walk straight out into the outer court. First they must leave behind the clothes they serve in, because those clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before they go near the places meant for the people."

15Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.

15When the man had finished measuring the inside of the temple area, he led me out through the gate that faces east. Then he measured the whole area all around.

16He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.

16He measured the east side with the measuring rod. It was five hundred rods all around.

NoteA measuring rod was about ten feet long. Some ancient copies read "five hundred cubits" here instead of "five hundred rods," which would make the temple area much smaller.

17He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.

17He measured the north side with the measuring rod. It was five hundred rods all around.

18He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.

18He measured the south side with the measuring rod. It was five hundred rods.

19He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

19He turned to the west side and measured it with the measuring rod. It was five hundred rods.

20He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.

20He measured all four sides. A wall ran around the whole area, five hundred long and five hundred wide. The wall kept the holy place separate from the ordinary ground outside.