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In a vision, Ezekiel was taken to Jerusalem
40
1 Almost 25 years after we had been taken to Babylonia, on the tenth day of the first month of that year, almost fourteen years after Jerusalem had been destroyed, in a vision I felt the power of Yahweh on me, and he took me to Israel. 2 He set me on a very high mountain. On the south side of that mountain there were some buildings that appeared to be part of a city. 3 When he took me there, I saw a man whose face was like bronze. He was standing in the entrance of a building. He had a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. 4 He said to me, “You human, look carefully at everything that I am going to show you, and pay attention to everything that I say and everything that I will show you, because that is why you have been brought here. And then later you must tell the Israeli people everything that you have seen here.”
The east gate of the outer courtyard
5 In the vision I saw that there was a wall that completely surrounded the temple area. The measuring stick in the man's hand was 10.5 feet long. He measured the wall: it was 10.5 feet thick and 10.5 feet high.
6 Then he went to the gate on the east side of the temple. He climbed the steps and measured the threshold for the gate: it was 10.5 feet thick and 10.5 feet high. There were alcoves where the guards stood on each side of the gateway; the alcoves were built into the walls. Each of the alcoves was 10.5 feet on each side. There was a distance of 8.75 feet between each alcove along the wall. 7 The inner threshold for the gate, which led to the entry room at the inner end of the hall facing the temple, was 10.5 feet long.
8 Then he measured the entry room near the gate. 9 It was about 14 feet long, and its supporting columns were 3.5 feet thick. The entry room of the gate was at the end of the hall that faced the temple. 10 Inside the east gate there were three alcoves on each side of the wall. They each had the same length and width. And the measurements of the walls that projected out between them were all identical.
11 Then he measured the opening of the gate: it was 17.5 feet wide, and the gate was 22.7 feet wide. 12 In front of each alcove was a low wall about 21 inches high, and the alcoves were 10.5 feet on each side. 13 Then he measured the distance between the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the next wall; it was 43.75 feet. 14 Then he measured along the projecting walls between the alcoves all along the inside of the gate: it was 105 feet. He measured them as far as the entry room of the gate. 15 The distance from the entrance of the gate to the other end of the entrance was 87.5 feet . 16 There were small windows in the outside walls of all the rooms, and also in the inner walls between the rooms. The windows were narrower on the side towards the gate. The walls that were between the rooms were decorated with carvings of palm trees.
The outer courtyard
17 Then he brought me to the outer courtyard. There I saw some rooms, and a stone path along the walls around the courtyard. There were 30 rooms along the path. 18 The stone path was all around the courtyard, and it extended out from the walls into the courtyard for the same distance as the gate entrance. That was the lower path. 19 Then the man measured the distance across the outer courtyard of the temple, between the inner entrance of the entryway and the wall surrounding the inner courtyard: it was 175 feet on the east side and on the north side of that courtyard.
The north gateway
20 Then he measured how long and how wide was the entrance for the gate that was on the north side, the entrance into the outer courtyard of the temple. 21 There were three alcoves on each side of the entrance. The walls that were between the alcoves and the walls of the entry room were the same length as the first entrance: they were 87.5 feet long and 43.7 feet wide. There were carvings of palm trees that decorated its windows and its entry room, and they all measured the same. 22 Its windows and the entry room and the palm tree decorations all measured the same as the ones on the east side. There were seven steps up to the gate entrance, and an entry room was opposite it. 23 There was a gate to the inner courtyard that faced the north gate, like there was on the east side.The man measured the distance from the north gate to the gate on the other side; it was 175 feet.
The south gateway
24 Then he brought me through the south gateway into the inner courtyard, and he measured the entrance. It measured the same as the other gateways. Its alcoves, its walls between the alcoves, and its entry room measured the same as the ones on the other sides. 25 The entrance and the entry room had narrow windows along the walls, like on the other sides. The entrance was 87.5 feet long and 43.7 feet wide. 26 There were seven steps up to it, and an entry room was opposite it. It also had carvings of palm trees on the walls that were between the rooms. 27 The inner courtyard also had an entrance on the south side. He measured from that gateway to the entrance on the south side of the outer courtyard; it was also 87.5 feet.
Gateways to the inner courtyard
28 Then he brought me through the south entrance into the inner courtyard, and he measured the south entrance. It measured the same as the other entrances. 29 Its alcoves, its projecting walls, and its entry room measured the same as the ones on the other sides. The entrance and the entry room had windows. The entrance was 87.5 feet long and 43.75 feet wide. 30 The entry rooms around the inner courtyard were 42.75 feet long and 8.7 feet wide. 31 The door of the entry room faced the outer courtyard. There were carvings of palm trees that decorated the columns, and there were eight steps up to it.
32 Then he led me to the east side of the inner courtyard, and he measured the entrance. It had the same measurements as the other entrances. 33 Its alcoves and projecting walls and entry room measured the same as the others. 34 Its entry room faced the outer courtyard. It also had carvings of palm trees that decorated the walls, and it had eight steps up to it.
35 Then he led me to the entrance on the north side and measured it. It measured the same as the other entrances. 36 And its alcoves and walls between them and the entry room all had small windows in the walls. It was 87.5 feet long and 43.7 feet wide. 37 Its entry room faced the outer courtyard. There were carvings of palm trees that decorated its walls, and there were eight steps up to it.
The rooms for preparing sacrifices
38 In each of the inner entrances there was a room with a door. They were rooms where the carcasses of the animals that would be burned completely on the altar were washed. 39 In the entry room, there were two tables on each side of the room. On those tables would be slaughtered the animals that would be completely burned, and the animals for offerings for sins that people had committed, and offerings to cause people to longer be guilty for having sinned. 40 Along the outside wall of the entry room, near the steps at the entry to the entrance on the north side, were two tables, and on the other side were two tables. 41 So there were four tables on one side of the entrance and four tables on the other side, on which the animals to be sacrificed were slaughtered. 42 There were also four tables of cut stone for the offerings to be completely burned, 31.5 inches on each side and 21 inches high. On those stone tables would be placed the tools for slaughtering all the animals for the sacrifices. 43 There were hooks, each with two prongs, each 3 inches long, fastened to the walls. The meat for the offerings would be placed on stone tables.
Rooms for the priests
44 Outside the inner gateway, inside the inner courtyard, there were two rooms, one on the north side and one on the south side. 45 The man said to me, “The room whose door faces south is for the priests who are in charge of the work in the temple. 46 The room whose door faces north is for the priests who are in charge of the work at the altar. They are the descendants of Zadok; they are the only descendants of Levi who are permitted to approach Yahweh while they work for him.”
47 Then he measured the courtyard: it was square, 175 feet long and 175 feet wide. The altar was in front of the temple.
The temple
48 Then he brought me to the entry room of the temple, and measured the walls on each side of the entrance: they were 8.75 feet thick. The entrance was 24.5 feet wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were 5 feet long. 49 The entry room was 17.5 feet wide on each side. There were ten steps up to it, and there were pillars on each side of the entrance.