Ezekiel
Chapter 40
1 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the start of the year, on the tenth day of the month, fourteen years after the city was struck down, on that exact day, God’s hand was on me and took me there.
2 In visions from God, he took me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain where there was something like the structure of a city to the south.
3 He took me there, and I saw a man looking like shiny metal, holding a linen string and a measuring stick, standing at the gate.
4 The man said to me, “Look carefully and listen closely. Pay attention to everything I’m going to show you. You are brought here so I can show them to you. Tell everything you see to the people of Israel.”
5 Look, there was a wall outside all around the house, and the man had a measuring stick about ten and a half feet long. He measured the wall; it was ten and a half feet thick and ten and a half feet high.
6 He went to the gate facing east, climbed its steps, and measured the gateway’s entrance, which was one reed wide; the other entrance was also one reed wide.
7 Each small room was as long and wide as a reed; there was a space of five cubits between the rooms; and the entrance of the gate near the inner gate porch was also as long as a reed.
8 He also measured the inside gateway entrance, one rod long.
9 He measured the gate’s entrance at eight units; the gateposts, two units; and the entrance faced inside.
10 The small rooms of the east gate had three on one side and three on the other; all three were the same size. The pillars on both sides were also the same size.
11 He measured the entrance width, ten units; and the gate length, thirteen units.
12 The area in front of the small rooms was one cubit wide on one side and also one cubit wide on the other side; the small rooms themselves were six cubits wide on both sides.
13 He measured the gate from the top of one small room to the top of another: the width was twenty-five cubits, with doors facing each other.
14 He also made pillars sixty cubits high, up to the entrance of the enclosed yard.
15 From the entrance gate to the inner gate’s porch was fifty cubits long.
16 The small rooms, the gate posts, and the curved areas all had narrow windows around them, and windows were all around on the inside too; and on each post, there were images of palm trees.
17 He led me to the outer courtyard, and there I saw rooms and a tiled walkway around the courtyard. There were thirty rooms along the walkway.
18 The ground next to the gates opposite the long sides of the gates was the lower ground.
19 He measured the width from the front of the outer gate to the front of the inner courtyard, a hundred cubits to the east and north.
20 He measured the length and width of the gate of the outer courtyard facing north.
21 The small rooms had three on one side and three on the other; the pillars and arches were like those of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.
22 Their windows, arches, and palm tree designs matched the size of the eastern gate. There were seven steps leading up to it, and the arches were in front of them.
23 The door of the inside yard faced the north and east doors. He measured from one door to the next, a hundred units.
24 Then he took me to the south side, and I saw a gate on the south. He measured its pillars and its archways by these measurements.
25 The building had windows and arches all around that looked like those windows; it was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
26 There were seven steps leading up to it, with arches in front: it had palm trees, one on each side of the posts.
27 In the inner yard, there was a gate facing south. He measured from one gate to the other toward the south, a distance of one hundred cubits.
28 He took me to the inner courtyard through the south entrance and measured the south entrance with these dimensions.
29 Its small rooms, pillars, and arches were built to these sizes: it had windows and arches all around. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide.
30 The arches around were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide.
31 The archways faced the outer courtyard; there were palm trees on its columns, and eight steps led up to it.
32 He led me to the inner courtyard on the east side, and he measured the gateway using those measurements.
33 Its small rooms, pillars, and arches were built to these sizes: it had windows and rounded arches all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
34 Its arches faced the outer courtyard, and there were palm tree decorations on its columns on both sides, with eight steps leading up to it.
35 He took me to the north gate and measured it with these measurements.
36 Its small rooms, pillars, arches, and windows all around: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
37 The pillars faced the outer courtyard; each pillar had palm tree designs on both sides, and the stairway to it had eight steps.
38 The rooms and their doorways were by the gate pillars, where they washed the sacrifice that was burned.
39 In the entrance of the gate were two tables on one side and two on the other side, where they would kill the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.
40 Outside, by the path leading to the north gate entrance, stood two tables; and on the opposite side, near the gate’s porch, there were two more tables.
41 On one side were four tables, and on the other side were four tables next to the gate; altogether eight tables where they killed their offerings.
42 The four tables were made of cut stone for the burnt offerings. They were one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one cubit tall. On these, they placed the tools used to kill the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
43 Inside there were wide hooks, secured all around, and on the tables was the meat of the sacrifice.
44 Next to the inner gate, there were rooms for the singers in the inner courtyard, near the north gate, and they faced south. There was also a room beside the east gate that faced north.
45 He told me, “This room, facing south, is for the priests who take care of the temple.”
46 The room facing north is for the priests in charge of the altar. These are Zadok’s descendants among the Levites, who can come close to God to serve Him.
47 He measured the yard, a hundred units long and a hundred units wide, square; and the altar in front of the building.
48 He took me to the entrance of the house and measured the pillars, five units wide on one side and five on the other. The gateway was three units wide on one side and three on the other.
49 The porch was 20 units long and 11 units wide, and he led me up the stairs to it. There were columns by the entrance, one on each side.