Ezekiel 42

The Chambers for the Priests

The Northern Chambers

1 Then he brought me out to the outer courtyard, toward the north, and brought me to the chamber block that was opposite the open area and the building on the north side.

2 The length of the building whose door faced north was one hundred cubits, and the width was fifty cubits.

3 Opposite the inner courtyard of twenty cubits and opposite the pavement of the outer courtyard was gallery against gallery in three stories.

4 In front of the chambers was a walkway ten cubits wide on the inside and one hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north.

5 The upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took away more space from them than from the lower and middle stories of the building.

6 Since they were in three stories and did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards, the upper chambers were set back more than the lower and middle ones.

7 The outer wall that ran parallel to the chambers, toward the outer courtyard in front of the chambers, was fifty cubits long.

8 The length of the chambers facing the outer courtyard was fifty cubits, while the length facing the temple was one hundred cubits.

9 Below these chambers was the entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer courtyard.

The Southern Chambers

10 In the thickness of the wall of the outer courtyard, on the south side, opposite the open area and the building, there were chambers.

11 A walkway was in front of them, just like the chambers to the north, with the same length and width. All their exits, arrangements, and doors were the same.

12 And like the doors of the chambers that were toward the south, there was a door at the head of the walkway, the walkway in front of the wall toward the east, where one enters them.

Their Purpose Explained

13 Then he said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the open area are holy chambers. This is where the priests who come near the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy.

14 When the priests enter, they must not go out from the holy place into the outer courtyard until they leave there the garments they ministered in, because the garments are holy. They must put on other garments before approaching what belongs to the people.”

The Measured Boundary

15 When he finished measuring the inside of the temple complex, he brought me out by way of the gate that faced east and measured the surrounding area.

16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod, five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

17 He measured the north side, five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

18 He measured the south side, five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

19 He turned to the west side and measured, five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

20 He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.