Ezekiel, 40

1. In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, fourteen years after Jerusalem had been taken, the hand of Yahweh was upon me.

2. In a divine vision he took me away to the land of Israel and put me down on a very high mountain, on the south of which there seemed to be built a city.

3. He took me to it, and there I saw a man who seemed to be made of bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand and was standing in the gateway.

4. The man said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and pay attention to everything I show you, since they brought you here for me to show it to you. Tell the people of Israel everything that you see."

5. The House was surrounded with a wall, and the man was holding a measuring rod that was three meters long (six great cubits). He measured the thickness of this construction - one rod; and its height - one rod.

6. He went to the east gate, climbed the steps and measured its threshold: one rod deep.

7. Each guardroom one rod by one rod; and the walls between the guardrooms five cubits thick;

8. and the threshold of the gate inward from the porch of the gate: one rod.

9. He measured the porch of the gate: eight cubits; its jambs: two cubits; the porch of the gate was at the inner end.

10. There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all three the same size; the walls between them all the same thickness on each side.

11. He measured the width of the entrance: ten cubits; and the width all down the gateway: thirteen cubits.

12. There was a rail in front of the guardrooms; each rail on either side was one cubit. And the guardrooms on either side were six cubits square.

13. He measured the width of the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other; it was twenty-five cubits across from window to window.

14. He measured the entrance: twenty cubits; after the porch of the gate came the outer court.

15. From the entrance end of the gate to the porch opposite: fifty cubits.

16. On each side of the gate there were windows with screens both in the guardrooms and in the spaces between, and there were openings all around inside the porch as well, and palm trees decorating the pillars.

17. He took me through to the outer court. There were rooms and a paved terrace going all the way around; there were thirty rooms on this terrace.

18. This terrace, which came right up to the sides of the gates and matched their depth, is the Lower Terrace.

19. He measured across the outer court from the lower gate to the outside of the inner court: a hundred cubits.

20. He measured the length and breadth of the north gate of the outer court.

21. It had three guardrooms on each side; the thickness of the walls between them, and its porch too, all measured the same as those of the first gate: fifty cubits by twenty-five cubits.

22. Its windows, its entrance and its palm-tree decoration all measured the same as those of the east gate. There were seven steps up to it, and its porch was at the inner end.

23. In the inner court there was, opposite the north gate, a gate like the one opposite the east gate. He measured the distance from one gate to the other: a hundred cubits.

24. He took me to the south and there was a gate to the south gate; he measured its guardrooms, the thickness of its walls and porch; they were of the same dimensions as the others.

25. All around it and its entrance were windows, like the other windows; it measured fifty cubits by twenty-five cubits,

26. and it had seven steps up to it; its entrance was at the inner end and had palm-tree decorations on its pillars, one on each side.

27. The inner court had a southern gate; he measured the distance southward from one gate to the other: a hundred cubits.

28. He then took me into the inner court by the south gate; he measured the south gate which was the same size as the others.

29. Its guardrooms, the thickness of its walls and entrance all measured the same as the others.

30. Its entrance had windows all around. It measured fifty cubits by twenty-five cubits. Its entrance, measured in all, all around, was twenty-five cubits by five cubits.

31. The entrance gave on to the outer court. It had palm trees on its pillars, each side, and eight steps leading up to it.

32. He took me to the east gate and measured it. It was the same size as the others.

33. Its guardrooms, the thickness of its walls, its entrance all measured the same as the others. The gate and its entrance had windows all around. Its area was fifty cubits by twenty-five cubits.

34. Its porch gave on to the outer court. There were palm trees on its pillars on either side, and eight steps leading up to it.

35. He took me to the north gate and measured it. Its guardrooms, the thickness of its walls and its entrance all measured the same as the others.

36. It had windows all around. Its area was fifty cubits by twenty-five cubits.

37. Its entrance gave on to the outer court. There were palm trees on its pillars on either side, and eight steps leading up to it.

38. There was a room entered from the entrance of the gates. It was here that they had to wash the holocaust.

39. And on either side of the entrance of the gate there were two tables for slaughtering the burnt offering, the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice of repayment.

40. Going northward up to the gate, there were two tables outside and two more tables at the entrance end of the gate.

41. There were four tables on the inside and four tables on the outside of the entrance; in all, eight tables on which the sacrifices were offered.

42. There were also four tables of dressed stone for burnt offerings, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high, on which all the things necessary for killing the burnt offering and the sacrifices were put.

43. Rims, a handbreadth broad, went all around the top, and on these tables was put the flesh of the offerings.

44. He took me into the inner court; there were two lodges in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate, facing south, the other at the side of the south gate, facing north.

45. He told me, "The lodge looking south is for the priests in charge of the Temple,

46. and the lodge looking north is for the priests who serve the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the only sons of Levi who approach Yahweh to serve him."

47. He measured the inner court. It was a quadrangle, a hundred cubits by a hundred cubits, with the altar in front of the House.

48. He took me to the Hall of the House and measured its door pillars - five cubits each side; and the width of the entrance was fourteen cubits with a three-cubit wall each side.

49. The Hall was twenty cubits by twelve cubits. There were ten steps leading up to it, and there were columns by the door pillars, one on each side.