The Holy Chambers and the Outer Wall

1Then he led me out into the outer court, towards the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the temple yard and opposite the building on the north. 2The length of the building that was on the north side42.2 Gk: Heb door was42.2 Gk: Heb before the length one hundred cubits, and the width fifty cubits. 3Across the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, the chambers rose42.3 Heb lacks the chambers rose gallery42.3 Meaning of Heb uncertain by gallery42.3 Meaning of Heb uncertain in three storeys. 4In front of the chambers was a passage on the inner side, ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits deep,42.4 Gk Syr: Heb a way of one cubit and its42.4 Heb their entrances were on the north. 5Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries42.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers in the building. 6For they were in three storeys, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the outer42.6 Gk: Heb lacks outer court; for this reason the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. 7There was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, towards the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long. 8For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the temple were one hundred cubits long. 9At the foot of these chambers ran a passage that one entered from the east in order to enter them from the outer court. 10The width of the passage42.10 Heb lacks of the passage was fixed by the wall of the court.

On the south42.10 Gk: Heb east also, opposite the vacant area and opposite the building, there were chambers 11with a passage in front of them; they were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and width, with the same exits42.11 Heb and all their exits and arrangements and doors. 12So the entrances of the chambers to the south were entered through the entrance at the head of the corresponding passage, from the east, along the matching wall.42.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain

13Then he said to me, ‘The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the vacant area are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the LORD shall eat the most holy offerings; there they shall deposit the most holy offerings—the grain-offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering—for the place is holy. 14When the priests enter the holy place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the vestments in which they minister, for these are holy; they shall put on other garments before they go near to the area open to the people.’

15When he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faces east, and measured the temple area all round. 16He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 17Then he turned and measured42.17 Gk: Heb measuring reed all round. He measured the north side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 18Then he turned and measured42.18 Gk: Heb measuring reed all round. He measured the south side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 19Then he turned to the west side and measured, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 20He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to make a separation between the holy and the common.