Bible Reading Plan
September 16
Ezekiel 40-42
Chapter 40
Vision of the Man with a Measuring Rod
1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the
tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken, on that
same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me there.
2 In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on
a very high mountain, and on it to the south there was a structure like
a city.
3 So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like
the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in
his hand; and he was standing in the gateway.
4 The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your
ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been
brought here in order to show it to you. Declare to the house of Israel all
that you see.”
Measurements Relating to the Temple
5 And behold, there was a wall on the outside of the temple all around, and
in the man’s hand was a measuring rod of six cubits, each of which was
a cubit and a handbreadth. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one
rod; and the height, one rod.
6 Then he went to the gate which faced east, went up its steps and measured
the threshold of the gate, one rod in width; and the other threshold was one
rod in width.
7 The guardroom was one rod long and one rod wide; and there were five cubits
between the guardrooms. And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate
facing inward was one rod.
8 Then he measured the porch of the gate facing inward, one rod.
9 He measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its side pillars, two
cubits. And the porch of the gate was faced inward.
10 The guardrooms of the gate toward the east numbered three on each side; the
three of them had the same measurement. The side pillars also had the same measurement
on each side.
11 And he measured the width of the gateway, ten cubits, and the length of
the gate, thirteen cubits.
12 There was a barrier wall one cubit wide in front of the guardrooms on each
side; and the guardrooms were six cubits square on each side.
13 He measured the gate from the roof of the one guardroom to the roof of the
other, a width of twenty-five cubits from one door to the door opposite.
14 He made the side pillars sixty cubits high; the gate extended round about
to the side pillar of the courtyard.
15 From the front of the entrance gate to the front of the inner porch of the
gate was fifty cubits.
16 There were shuttered windows looking toward the guardrooms, and toward
their side pillars within the gate all around, and likewise for the porches.
And there were windows all around inside; and on each side pillar were palm
tree ornaments.
17 Then he brought me into the outer court, and behold, there were chambers
and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.
18 The pavement (that is, the lower pavement) was by the side of the gates,
corresponding to the length of the gates.
19 Then he measured the width from the front of the lower gate to the front
of the exterior of the inner court, a hundred cubits on the east and on the
north.
20 As for the gate of the outer court which faced the north, he measured its
length and its width.
21 It had three guardrooms on each side; and its side pillars and its porches
had the same measurement as the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits and
the width twenty-five cubits.
22 Its windows and its porches and its palm tree ornaments had the same measurements
as the gate which faced toward the east; and it was reached by seven steps,
and its porch was in front of them.
23 The inner court had a gate opposite the gate on the north as well as the gate
on the east; and he measured a hundred cubits from gate to gate.
24 Then he led me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate toward the
south; and he measured its side pillars and its porches according to those
same measurements.
25 The gate and its porches had windows all around like those other windows;
the length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits.
26 There were seven steps going up to it, and its porches were in front of
them; and it had palm tree ornaments on its side pillars, one on each side.
27 The inner court had a gate toward the south; and he measured from gate to
gate toward the south, a hundred cubits.
28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate; and he measured the
south gate according to those same measurements.
29 Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches were according to
those same measurements. And the gate and its porches had windows all around;
it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
30 There were porches all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide.
31 Its porches were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were on
its side pillars, and its stairway had eight steps.
32 He brought me into the inner court toward the east. And he measured the
gate according to those same measurements.
33 Its guardrooms also, its side pillars and its porches were according to
those same measurements. And the gate and its porches had windows all around;
it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
34 Its porches were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were
on its side pillars, on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.
35 Then he brought me to the north gate; and he measured it according to those
same measurements,
36 with its guardrooms, its side pillars and its porches. And the gate
had windows all around; the length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five
cubits.
37 Its side pillars were toward the outer court; and palm tree ornaments were
on its side pillars on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.
38 A chamber with its doorway was by the side pillars at the gates; there they
rinse the burnt offering.
39 In the porch of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter
the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering.
40 On the outer side, as one went up to the gateway toward the north, were
two tables; and on the other side of the porch of the gate were two tables.
41 Four tables were on each side next to the gate; or, eight tables on which
they slaughter sacrifices.
42 For the burnt offering there were four tables of hewn stone, a cubit and
a half long, a cubit and a half wide and one cubit high, on which they lay the
instruments with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
43 The double hooks, one handbreadth in length, were installed in the house
all around; and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.
44 From the outside to the inner gate were chambers for the singers in
the inner court, one of which was at the side of the north gate, with its
front toward the south, and one at the side of the south gate facing toward
the north.
45 He said to me, “This is the chamber which faces toward the south,
intended for the priests who keep charge of the temple;
46 but the chamber which faces toward the north is for the priests who keep
charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from the sons of Levi
come near to the Lord to minister to Him.”
47 He measured the court, a perfect square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred
cubits wide; and the altar was in front of the temple.
48 Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured each side pillar
of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits
on each side.
49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits; and
at the stairway by which it was ascended were columns belonging to the side
pillars, one on each side.
Chapter 41
The Inner Temple
1 Then he brought me to the nave and measured the side pillars;
six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar.
2 The width of the entrance was ten cubits and the sides of the entrance
were five cubits on each side. And he measured the length of the nave, forty
cubits,
and the width, twenty cubits.
3 Then he went inside and measured each side pillar of the doorway, two
cubits, and the doorway, six cubits high; and the width of the doorway, seven
cubits.
4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before
the nave; and he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”
5 Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the
side chambers, four cubits, all around about the house on every side.
6 The side chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty
in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on
their inward side all around, that they might be fastened, and not be fastened
into the wall of the temple itself.
7 The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story.
Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all
sides of the temple, therefore the width of the temple increased as it went
higher;
and thus one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second
story.
8 I saw also that the house had a raised platform all around; the foundations
of the side chambers were a full rod of six long cubits in height.
9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But
the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple
10 and the outer chambers was twenty cubits in width all around the temple
on every side.
11 The doorways of the side chambers toward the free space consisted
of one doorway toward the north and another doorway toward the south; and the
width
of the free space was five cubits all around.
12 The building that was in front of the separate area at the side toward
the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits
thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.
13 Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area
with the building and its walls were also a hundred cubits long.
14 Also the width of the front of the temple and that of the separate areas
along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.
15 He measured the length of the building along the front of the separate
area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also
measured the inner nave and the porches of the court.
16 The thresholds, the latticed windows and the galleries round about
their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all
around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered),
17 over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all
the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement.
18 It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between
cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,
19 a man’s face toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion’s
face toward the palm tree on the other side; they were carved on all the house
all around.
20 From the ground to above the entrance cherubim and palm trees were carved,
as well as on the wall of the nave.
21 The doorposts of the nave were square; as for the front of the sanctuary,
the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other.
22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high and its length two cubits; its
corners, its base and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This
is the table that is before the Lord.”
23 The nave and the sanctuary each had a double door.
24 Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves; two leaves for
one door and two leaves for the other.
25 Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and
palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a threshold
of wood on the front of the porch outside.
26 There were latticed windows and palm trees on one side and on the
other, on the sides of the porch; thus were the side chambers of the house
and the
thresholds.
Chapter 42
Chambers of the Temple
1 Then he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the
north; and he brought me to the chamber which was opposite the separate
area and
opposite the building toward the north.
2 Along the length, which was a hundred cubits, was the north door; the width
was fifty cubits.
3 Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite
the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery corresponding
to gallery in three stories.
4 Before the chambers was an inner walk ten cubits wide, a way of one hundred
cubits; and their openings were on the north.
5 Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more
space away from them than from the lower and middle ones in the building.
6 For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the
courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground upward,
more than the lower and middle ones.
7 As for the outer wall by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court
facing the chambers, its length was fifty cubits.
8 For the length of the chambers which were in the outer court was fifty cubits;
and behold, the length of those facing the temple was a hundred cubits.
9 Below these chambers was the entrance on the east side, as one enters them
from the outer court.
10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, facing the
separate area and facing the building, there were chambers.
11 The way in front of them was like the appearance of the chambers which
were on the north, according to their length so was their width, and all their
exits
were both according to their arrangements and openings.
12 Corresponding to the openings of the chambers which were toward the south
was an opening at the head of the way, the way in front of the wall toward
the east, as one enters them.
13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which
are opposite the separate area, they are the holy chambers where the priests
who are near to the Lord shall eat the most holy things. There they shall
lay the most holy things, the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt
offering; for the place is holy.
14 “When the priests enter, then they shall not go out into the outer court
from the sanctuary without laying there their garments in which they minister,
for they are holy. They shall put on other garments; then they shall approach
that which is for the people.”
15 Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by
the way of the gate which faced toward the east and measured it all around.
16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds
by the measuring reed.
17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds by the measuring reed.
18 On the south side he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
19 He turned to the west side and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring
reed.
20 He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall all around, the length
five hundred and the width five hundred, to divide between the holy and
the profane.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)