Ezekiel 40:1-49

In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, on the tenth day of the month, and nearly fourteen years after the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, on that day YAHWEH overpowered me and carried me away to Jerusalem. In an ecstatic vision from God, he carried me away to the land of Israel and put me down on a very high mountain. As I looked toward the south, there was a group of buildings that seemed to be a city. And when he brought me closer to the buildings, behold, I saw a man standing in the gateway. His appearance was shining and glistening like polished bronze. He held a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. The shining man said to me, “Son of man, look closely and listen carefully. Pay close attention to everything I show you, for I have brought you here to reveal these things to you. You must tell the people of Israel everything you see.” Behold, I saw an outer wall surrounding the whole area where the temple stood. And the shining man was holding a measuring reed, and its length was six long cubits, each cubit a forearm and a handbreadth. He measured the wall with the reed, and it was one reed high and one reed thick. He went into the opening of the gateway facing east, climbed the steps, and measured its threshold as one reed deep. Beyond the threshold was a corridor, which had rooms on each side for the guards. Each of the side rooms was square and measured one reed on each side. The space between the side rooms was five cubits. And the inside threshold of the gate leading to the portico facing the temple was one reed deep. Then he measured the porch of the gate on the inside. It was eight cubits deep, flanked by pillars two cubits thick. The porch opened onto the temple courtyard. On each side of the east gate there were three guardrooms, all three the same size, and the walls that separated them were the same size. He measured the width of the entrance as ten cubits and its length, thirteen cubits. And there was a low wall one cubit high in front of the guardrooms. Each of the guardrooms was six cubits square. Then he measured the width of the gate from the top back wall of one guardroom to the top back wall of the opposite one. It was twenty-five cubits straight across. He calculated the height of the porch, which led out to a courtyard, as sixty cubits high. From the outside wall of the gate to the far side of the porch, he measured as fifty cubits. On all the inside walls of the gateway were windows with narrow recesses all around. The walls of the guardrooms, the walls between them, and the walls of the porch likewise had windows all around. And there were palm trees carved on the inner walls of the corridor and on the doorways. Then the shining man brought me into the outer court, and behold, there was a spacious terrace paved with stones, and thirty chambers were built against the outer wall. This paved terrace, or Lower Terrace, was as wide as the gateways were long and extended throughout the courtyard. Then he measured the width of the courtyard, from the inside of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was one hundred cubits on the east side. Then he went to measure the north side. Behold, there was a gate in the outer courtyard that faced to the north. He measured its length and width. The length of the gateway was fifty cubits, and its width was twenty-five cubits. Its pillars and porch were of the same size as those of the first gate. It also had three guardrooms on each side. Its windows, its porch, and its palm trees were of the same measurement as those of the east gate. There were also seven steps leading up to it, and its porch was at the end facing the courtyard. In the inner court across from the north gate there was another gateway leading into the inner courtyard, just as there was opposite the east gate. He measured the distance from one gate to the other, and it was one hundred cubits. Next, the shining man took me to the south side, and behold, there was another gate. He measured its pillars and porch; they were of the same dimensions as the others. The gateway, as well as its porch, had narrow windows all around, like the windows of the others; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five wide and had seven steps leading up to it. Its porch was at the inner end and had palm trees carved on its pillars, one on either side. There was also a lower gate on the south side of the inner court. He measured the distance southward from one gate to the other as one hundred cubits. He then took me into the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate, and its dimensions were the same as the others. Its guardrooms, pillars, and porch were also the same size as the others. There were porches all around the gateway and each porch was fifty cubits long and five cubits wide. The porches all faced the outer court with eight steps leading up to them. And palm trees were carved on the pillars of the corridor. Then he took me into the inner court on the east side and measured the gateway. It was identical in size to the others. Its guardrooms, pillars, and porches were of the same dimensions as the others. The gateway, as well as its porch, had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its porch faced the outer court with eight steps leading up to it, and there were palm trees carved on its pillars. Then the shining man brought me to the north gate and measured it, and it had the same dimensions as the others. Its guardrooms, pillars, and porches were of the same dimension as the others. The gateway had narrow windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its porch faced the outer court, and there were eight steps leading up to it, and there were palm trees carved on its pillars on either side. In each of the inner gateways there was a chamber with a doorway by the porch, where they washed the burnt offerings. And inside the porches of the gates there were two tables placed on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were slaughtered. Outside the north gate, near the steps to the entrance, two tables were placed against both outside walls of the porches—four tables inside and four tables outside, eight tables in all for slaughtering the animals for sacrifice. There were also four slabs of hewn stone used for the burnt offerings that were each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. The instruments used for slaughtering the burnt offerings and sacrificial animals were placed on these slabs. And four-inch-long double-pronged hooks were fastened to the wall all around the stone tables. And the carcasses of the sacrificial animals were prepared on the tables. Then he brought me into the inner courtyard just outside the north gate. Behold, I saw chambers for the singers of the inner court, one on the side of the north gate, facing south, the other on the side of the south gate, facing north. The shining man told me, “The chamber facing south is for the priests responsible for the service of the temple. And the chamber facing north is for the priests responsible for the sacrifices of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, for only the sons of Levi are permitted to go into YAHWEH’s presence to serve him.” Then he measured the inner courtyard. It was one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, a square with the altar standing in front of the temple. Then he brought me to the entrance porch of the temple building, and he measured the gateposts of the porch. They were five cubits thick on either side, and the width of the gate was fourteen cubits. The sidewalls of the gate were three cubits on either side. The entrance porch itself was twenty cubits long and twelve cubits wide. There were ten steps leading up to it, and there were pillars by the gateposts, one on either side.