Ezekiel
Chapter 41

1

Then he brought me to the nave and measured the pilasters, which were six cubits thick on either side.

2

The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the walls at either side of it measured five cubits each. He measured the length of the nave, which was found to be forty cubits, while its width was twenty.

3

Then he went in beyond and measured the pilasters flanking that entrance, which were two cubits; the width of the entrance was six cubits, and the walls at either side of it extended seven cubits each.

4

He measured the space beyond the nave, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, and said to me, "This is the holy of holies."

5

Then he measured the wall of the temple, which was six cubits thick; the side chambers, which extended all the way around the temple, had a width of four cubits.

6

There were thirty side chambers built one above the other in three stories, and there were offsets in the outside wall of the temple that enclosed the side chambers; these served as supports, so that there were no supports in the temple wall proper.

7

There was a broad circular passageway that led upward to the side chambers, for the temple was enclosed all the way around and all the way upward; therefore the temple had a broad way running upward so that one could pass from the lowest to the middle and the highest story.

8

About the temple was a raised pavement completely enclosing it--the foundations of the side chambers--a full rod of six cubits in extent.

9

The width of the outside wall which enclosed the side chambers was five cubits. Between the side chambers of the temple

10

and the chambers of the court was an open space twenty cubits wide going all around the temple.

11

The side chambers had entrances to the open space, one entrance on the north and another on the south. The width of the wall surrounding the open space was five cubits.

12

¹ The building fronting the free area on the west side was seventy cubits front to back; the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and it measured ninety cubits from side to side.

13

He measured the temple, which was one hundred cubits long. The free area, together with the building and its walls, was a hundred cubits in length.

14

The facade of the temple, along with the free area, on the east side, was one hundred cubits wide.

15

He measured the building which lay the length of the free area and behind it, and together with its walls on both sides it was one hundred cubits. The inner nave and the outer vestibule

16

were paneled with precious wood all around, covered from the ground to the windows. There were splayed windows with trellises about them (facing the threshold).

17

As high as the lintel of the door, even into the interior part of the temple as well as outside, on every wall on every side in both the inner and outer rooms were carved

18

the figures of cherubim and palmtrees: a palmtree between every two cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:

19

a man's face looking at a palmtree on one side, and a lion's face looking at a palmtree on the other; thus they were figured on every side throughout the whole temple.

20

From the ground to the lintel of the door the cherubim and palmtrees were carved on the walls.

21

The way into the nave was a square doorframe. In front of the holy place was something that looked like

22

² a wooden altar, three cubits in height, two cubits long, and two cubits wide. It had corners, and its base and sides were of wood. He said to me, "This is the table which is before the LORD."

23

The nave had a double door, and also the holy place had

24

a double door. Each door had two movable leaves; two leaves were on one doorjamb and two on the other.

25

Carved upon them (on the doors of the nave) were cherubim and palmtrees, like those carved on the walls. Before the vestibule outside was a wooden lattice.

26

There were splayed windows (and palmtrees) on both side walls of the vestibule, and the side chambers of the temple. . . .

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Footnotes

¹ [12] The building: the function of this structure lying behind the temple is never specified.

² [22] A wooden altar: the altar of incense, standing in the nave at the entrance to the holy of holies.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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