Add parallel Print Page Options

Ezekiel Sees the Future Temple in Jerusalem

40 1-2 (A) Twenty-five years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, and 14 years after the Babylonians had captured Jerusalem, the Lord's power took control of me on the tenth day of the first month.[a] The Lord showed me some visions in which I was carried to the top of a high mountain in Jerusalem. I looked to the south and saw what looked like a city full of buildings. (B) In my vision the Lord took me closer, and I saw a man who was sparkling like polished bronze. He was standing near one of the gates and was holding a tape measure in one hand and a measuring stick in the other. The man said, “Ezekiel, son of man, pay close attention to everything I'm going to show you—that's why you've been brought here. Listen carefully, because you must tell the people of Israel what you see.”

The East Gate

(C) The first thing I saw was an outer wall that completely surrounded the temple area. The man took his measuring stick, which was three meters long, and measured the wall; it was three meters high and three meters thick. 6-7 Then he went to the east gate, where he walked up steps that led to a long passageway. On each side of this passageway were three guardrooms, which were three meters square, and they were separated by walls two and a half meters thick. The man measured the distance between the opening of the gate and the first guardroom, and it was three meters, the thickness of the outer wall.

At the far end of this passageway, I saw an entrance room that faced the courtyard of the temple itself. There was also a distance of three meters between the last guardroom and the entrance room 8-9 at the end of the passageway. The man measured this room: It was four meters from the doorway to the opposite wall, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was one meter. 10 The three guardrooms on each side of the passageway were the same size, and the walls that separated them were the same thickness.

11 Next, the man measured the width of the passageway, and it was six and a half meters, but the two doors of the gate were only five meters wide.[b] 12 In front of the guardrooms, which were three meters square, was a railing about 50 centimeters high and 50 centimeters thick. 13 The man measured the distance from the back wall[c] of one of these rooms to the same spot in the room directly across the passageway, and it was twelve and a half meters. 14 He measured the entrance room at the far end of the passageway, and it was ten meters wide.[d] 15 Finally, he measured the total length of the passageway, from the outer wall to the entrance room, and it was 25 meters. 16 The three walls in the guardrooms had small windows in them, just like the ones in the entrance room.[e] The walls along the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees.

The Outer Courtyard

17 The man then led me through the passageway and into the outer courtyard of the temple, where I saw 30 rooms built around the outside of the courtyard.[f] These side rooms were built against the outer wall, and in front of them was a sidewalk that circled the courtyard. 18 This was known as the lower sidewalk, and it was 25 meters wide.

19 I saw the gates that led to the inner courtyard of the temple and noticed that they were higher than those leading to the outer courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gates, and it was 50 meters.[g]

The North Gate

20 Next, the man measured the north gate that led to the outer courtyard. 21 This gate also had three guardrooms on each side of a passageway. The measurements of these rooms, the walls between them, and the entrance room at the far end of the passageway were exactly the same as those of the east gate. The north gate was also 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide, 22 and the windows, the entrance room, and the carvings of palm trees were just like those in the east gate. The entrance room also faced the courtyard of the temple and had seven steps leading up to it. 23 Directly across the outer courtyard was a gate that led to the inner courtyard, just as there was for the east gate. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was 50 meters.

The South Gate

24 The man then took me to the south gate. He measured the walls and the entrance room of this gate, and the measurements were exactly the same as those of the other two gates. 25 There were windows in the guardrooms of this gate and in the entrance room, just like the others, and this gate was also 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide. 26 Seven steps led up to the gate; the entrance room was at the far end of the passageway and faced the courtyard of the temple. Carvings of palm trees decorated the walls along the passageway. 27 And directly across the outer courtyard was a gate on the south side of the inner courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was also 50 meters.

The Gates Leading to the Inner Courtyard

28 We then went into the inner courtyard, through the gate on the south side of the temple. The man measured the gate, and it was the same size as the gates in the outer wall. 29-30 In fact, everything along the passageway was also the same size, including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, the entrance room at the far end, and the windows. This gate, like the others, was 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide. 31 The entrance room of this gate faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated the walls of the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.

32 Next, we went through the east gate to the inner courtyard. The man measured this gate, and it was the same size as the others. 33 The guardrooms, the walls separating them, and its entrance room had the same measurements as the other gates. The guardrooms and the entrance room had windows, and the gate was 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide. 34 The entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and the walls in the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

35 Then the man took me to the north gate. He measured it, and it was the same size as the others, 36 including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, and the entrance room. There were also windows in this gate. It was 25 meters long and 12.5 meters wide, 37 and like the other inner gates, its entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and its walls were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

The Rooms for Sacrificing Animals

38-39 Inside the entrance room of the north gate, I saw four tables, two on each side of the room, where the animals to be sacrificed were killed. Just outside[h] this room was a small building used for washing the animals before they were offered as sacrifices to please the Lord[i] or sacrifices for sin[j] or sacrifices to make things right.[k] 40 Four more tables were in the outer courtyard, two on each side of the steps leading into the entrance room. 41 So there was a total of eight tables, four inside and four outside, where the animals were killed, 42-43 and where the meat was placed until it was sacrificed on the altar.[l]

Next to the tables in the entrance room were four stone tables 50 centimeters high and 75 centimeters square; the equipment used for killing the animals was kept on top of these tables. All around the walls of this room was a 75-millimeter shelf.[m]

The Rooms Belonging to the Priests

44 The man then took me to the inner courtyard, where I saw two buildings, one beside the inner gate on the north and the other beside the inner gate on the south.[n] 45 He said, “The building beside the north gate belongs to the priests who serve in the temple, 46 and the building beside the south gate belongs to those who serve at the altar. All of them are descendants of Zadok and are the only Levites allowed to serve as the Lord's priests.”

The Inner Courtyard and the Temple

47 Now the man measured the inner courtyard; it was 50 meters square. I also saw an altar in front of the temple.

48 We walked to the porch of the temple, and the man measured the doorway of the porch: It was seven meters long,[o] two and a half meters wide, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was one and a half meters. 49 The porch itself was ten meters by six[p] meters, with steps[q] leading up to it. There was a column on each side of these steps.

41 Next we went into the main room of the temple. The man measured the doorway of this room: It was 3 meters wide,[r] five meters long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was two and a half meters. The main room itself was 20 meters by 10 meters.

3-4 Then the man walked to the far end of the temple's main room and said, “Beyond this doorway is the most holy place.” He first measured the doorway: It was one meter wide, 3 meters long, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was 3.5 meters. Then he measured the most holy place, and it was 10 meters square.

The Storage Rooms of the Temple

The man measured the wall of the temple, and it was three meters thick. Storage rooms two meters wide were built against the outside of the wall. There were three levels of rooms, with 30 rooms on each level, and they rested on ledges that were attached to the temple walls, so that nothing was built into the walls. The walls of the temple were thicker at the bottom than at the top, which meant that the storage rooms on the top level were wider than those on the bottom level.[s] Steps led from the bottom level, through the middle level, and into the top level.

The temple rested on a stone base three meters high, which also served as the foundation for the storage rooms. The outside walls of the storage rooms were two and a half meters thick; there was nothing between these walls 10 and the nearest buildings ten meters away. 11 One door led into the storage rooms on the north side of the temple, and another door led to those on the south side. The stone base extended two and a half meters beyond the outside wall of the storage rooms.

The West Building and the Measurements of the Temple

12 I noticed another building: It faced the west end of the temple and was 35 meters wide, 45 meters long, and had walls over 2.5 meters thick.

13 The man measured the length of the temple, and it was 50 meters. He then measured from the back wall of the temple, across the open space behind the temple, to the back wall of the west building; it was 50 meters. 14 The distance across the front of the temple, including the open space on either side, was also 50 meters.

15 Finally, the man measured the length of the west building, including the side rooms on each end, and it was also 50 meters.

The Inside of the Temple

The inside walls of the temple's porch and main room[t] 16 were paneled with wood all the way from the floor to the windows, while the doorways, the small windows, and the three side rooms were trimmed in wood.[u] 17 The paneling stopped just above the doorway. These walls were decorated[v] 18-20 with carvings of winged creatures and had a carving of a palm tree between the creatures. Each winged creature had two faces: A human face looking at the palm tree on one side, and a lion's face looking at the palm tree on the other side. These designs were carved into the paneling all the way around the two rooms.

21 The doorframe to the temple's main room was in the shape of a rectangle.

The Wooden Altar

In front of the doorway to the most holy place was something that looked like 22 a wooden altar. It was one and a half meters high and one meter square,[w] and its corners, its base,[x] and its sides were made of wood. The man said, “This is a reminder that the Lord is constantly watching over his temple.”

The Doors in the Temple

23 Both the doorway to the main room of the temple and the doorway to the most holy place had two doors, 24 and each door had two sections that could fold open. 25 The doors to the main room were decorated with carvings of winged creatures and palm trees just like those on the walls, and there was a wooden covering over the porch just outside these doors. 26 The walls on each side of this porch had small windows and were also decorated with carvings of palm trees.

Footnotes

  1. 40.1,2 Twenty-five years … first month: Probably March of 573 b.c.
  2. 40.11 the width of the passageway … six and a half meters … the two doors of the gate … five meters wide: The doors themselves probably were hung on stone sockets, which could explain the two meters difference in width between the passageway and the doors.
  3. 40.13 back wall: One ancient translation; Hebrew “roof.”
  4. 40.14 wide: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
  5. 40.16 just like the ones in the entrance room: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  6. 40.17 30 rooms built around the outside of the courtyard: These were probably used by worshipers as places to meet and share sacrificial meals (see, for example, Jeremiah 35.2).
  7. 40.19 meters: The Hebrew text adds “the east and the north.”
  8. 40.38,39 Just outside: Or “Inside.”
  9. 40.38,39 sacrifices to please the Lord: These sacrifices have traditionally been called “whole burnt offerings” because the whole animal was burned on the altar. A main purpose of such sacrifices was to please the Lord with the smell of the sacrifice, and so in the CEV they are often called “sacrifices to please the Lord.”
  10. 40.38,39 sacrifices for sin: See Leviticus 4.1,2; 6.24-30.
  11. 40.38,39 sacrifices to make things right: See Leviticus 5.14-19; 7.1-10.
  12. 40.42,43 where the meat … altar: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  13. 40.42,43 was a 75-millimeter shelf: Or “were 75-millimeter pegs.”
  14. 40.44 south: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 44.
  15. 40.48 seven meters long: One ancient translation; these words are not in the Hebrew text of this verse.
  16. 40.49 six: One ancient translation; Hebrew “five and a half.”
  17. 40.49 steps: Hebrew; one ancient translation “ten steps.”
  18. 41.1 It was 3 meters wide: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  19. 41.7 which meant that … on the bottom level: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  20. 41.15 The inside walls of the temple's porch and main room: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  21. 41.16 were trimmed in wood: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  22. 41.17 decorated: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 17.
  23. 41.22 one meter square: One ancient translation; Hebrew “one meter wide.”
  24. 41.22 base: One ancient translation; Hebrew “length.”

Bible Gateway Recommends