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42 ‎[1] The man, who was actually an angel, led Ezekiel outside. **He brought me out to the outer courtyard via the northward way, and he brought me to the chamber that was opposite the conspicuous structure, **the tall Sanctuary building, **and that was **also **opposite the **chamber **building **next to the Sanctuary,** to the north, **
‎[2] **to before the length of one hundred cubits. **The chamber in the courtyard was one hundred cubits long, equal to the length of the Sanctuary building and the chambers complex combined, and it was situated parallel to them,** to the northern entrance, and the width of **this chamber was **fifty cubits. **
‎[3] The chamber was located **opposite the twenty that were of the inner courtyard. **An open space of twenty cubits separated the chamber and the Sanctuary building. **And **on its outer side, the chamber was **opposite the paved area of the outer courtyard, one supporting structure, **on one side of the chamber,** facing another, **on the other side of the chamber, **in three stories. **
‎[4] **Before the chambers, **on their east side, **was a passageway, ten cubits in width, **leading** to the inner area, **toward the inner courtyard, **by way, **via** **a passage or entrance,** of one cubit, and their entrances, **the entrances to the chambers, **were to the north. **
‎[5] **The upper chambers were narrower **than the middle and lower chambers,** as the supporting structures took from these more **space** than **was taken** from the lowest ones and from the middle ones of the building. **
‎[6] **For they,** the chambers, **were of three stories,** **and they did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards; therefore,** as the structure rose, **they were diminished relative to the lowest ones and the middle ones,** as the upper story was narrower than the lower and middle stories, **more than the ground.** The upper story required support by external galleries, which took space from the chambers themselves.
‎[7] **The outer wall **of the courtyard** **was **opposite the chambers **that were in the courtyard,** **and the wall continued **via the outer courtyard in front of the chambers **of the outer courtyard.** Its length, **the length of the walled court,** was fifty cubits. **
‎[8] **For the length of the chambers of the outer courtyard, **at the front of the outer courtyard,** was fifty cubits, and behold, **the wall continued past these chambers that were **before, **parallel to, the length of** the Sanctuary** building, so that they** were one hundred cubits **in length.
‎[9] On a level **below these chambers, **the western chambers that were near the Sanctuary and were previously described in detail (verses 1–6),** as one comes from the east when one comes to these from the outer courtyard, **
‎[10] **along the width of the wall of the **outer **courtyard to the east, in front of the conspicuous structure, **the Sanctuary,** and in front of the building, **there** were **additional **chambers **along the way. One who approached the chambers on the west, coming from the eastern slope of the mountain, would find additional chambers on the route,
‎[11] **with a passage before them, **before these chambers, which were** with an appearance like that of the chambers that were to the north **gate, but unlike those inner chambers, which were one hundred by fifty cubits, **their, **the chambers’,** length was like their width, **their length and width were equal. **And **they were also like** all their, **the northern chambers’,** exits, and like their dimensions, and like their entrances **
‎[12] **were the entrances of the chambers that were to the south, **in that there was** an entrance at the head of the passage, **which opened onto a walkway, **the passage that was before the beautiful platform. **There was an aesthetic stone elevation facing this walkway; perhaps it was a platform on which musical instruments were played. It was situated **to the east as they enter. **The chambers were located in the four corners of the courtyard: two long, rectangular chambers in the west and two square ones in the east.
‎[13] Then **he, **the man,** said to me: The northern chambers and the southern chambers that are in front of the conspicuous structure, **the northern and southern chambers that are to the west, in front of the Sanctuary, **they are the sacred chambers where the priests who are close to the Lord, **the descendants of Tzadok, who will serve in the Temple,** eat the sacred sacraments, **the offerings that may be eaten only in the sacred area and only by priests.** There, **in these chambers,** they shall place the sacred sacraments, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, as the place is holy. **
‎[14] **When the priests enter **the Temple,** they shall not exit the Sanctuary to the outer courtyard **in their priestly vestments;** **rather,** they shall** **place there their vestments in which they serve** there,** **in the eastern chambers,** **adjacent to the outer courtyard, **as they, **the vestments,** are sacred; and they shall don other, **non-sacred** garments, and they shall approach that **area,** which is **designated** for the people. **
‎[15] **He, **the man,** concluded the measurements of the inner house, and he brought me out via the gate that faced eastward, **which was the gate through which we had entered, **and he measured it, **the Temple premises, **all around. **
‎[16] **He measured the east side with the measuring rod **in his hand,** **and its length was **five hundred rods, with the measuring rod all around. **
‎[17] **He measured the north side, five hundred rods, with the measuring rod all around. **
‎[18] **He measured the south side, five hundred rods, with the measuring rod. **
‎[19] **He turned to the west side, and he measured five hundred rods with the measuring rod. **
‎[20] **On four sides he measured it; it had a wall all around, **and its dimensions were **five hundred **rods** in length and five hundred in width. **The purpose of the wall was** to separate between the sacred **area on the Temple Mount, **and the non-sacred areas.** However, there was no square walled area with a perimeter of 1,500 m in either Solomon’s Temple or in the Second Temple. It is hard to know whether there would have been room for a square that large on the Temple Mount in those days.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center