Book Order Plan

¹Next he brought me into the great hall and measured the jambs; on each side the width of the jamb was 10½ feet.

²The width of the entrance was 17½ feet, and the side walls of the entrance were 8¾ feet wide on each side. He also measured the length of the great hall, 70 feet, and the width, 35 feet.

³He went inside the next room and measured the jambs at the entrance; they were 3½ feet wide. The entrance was 10½ feet wide, and the width of the entrance’s side walls on each side was 12¼ feet.

⁴He then measured the length of the room adjacent to the great hall, 35 feet, and the width, 35 feet. And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was 10½ feet thick. The width of the side rooms all around the temple was 7 feet.

⁶The side rooms were arranged one above another in three stories of thirty rooms each. There were ledges on the wall of the temple all around to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be in the temple wall itself.

⁷The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple went up by stages. This was the reason for the temple’s broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.

⁸I saw that the temple had a raised platform surrounding it; this foundation for the side rooms was 10½ feet high.

⁹The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was 8¾ feet. The free space between the side rooms of the temple

¹⁰and the outer chambers was 35 feet wide all around the temple.

¹¹The side rooms opened into the free space, one entrance toward the north and another to the south. The area of free space was 8¾ feet wide all around.

¹²Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122½ feet wide. The wall of the building was 8¾ feet thick on all sides, and the building’s length was 157½ feet.

¹³Then the man measured the temple; it was 175 feet long. In addition, the temple yard and the building, including its walls, were 175 feet long.

¹⁴The width of the front of the temple along with the temple yard to the east was 175 feet.

¹⁵Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple yard to the west, with its galleries on each side; it was 175 feet. The interior of the great hall and the porticoes of the court —

¹⁶the thresholds, the beveled windows, and the balconies all around with their three levels opposite the threshold — were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered),

¹⁷reaching to the top of the entrance, and as far as the inner temple and on the outside. On every wall all around, on the inside and outside, was a pattern

¹⁸carved with cherubim and palm trees. There was a palm tree between each pair of cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:

¹⁹a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side, and a lion’s face turned toward it on the other. They were carved throughout the temple on all sides.

²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were carved from the ground to the top of the entrance and on the wall of the great hall.

²¹The doorposts of the great hall were square, and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance.

²²The altar was made of wood, 5¼ feet high and 3½ feet long. It had corners, and its length and sides were of wood. The man told me, “This is the table that stands before the LORD.”

²³The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door,

²⁴and each of the doors had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other.

²⁵Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy outside, in front of the portico.

²⁶There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides, on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the temple, and the canopies.

¹Then the man led me out by way of the north gate into the outer court. He brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple yard and opposite the building to the north.

²Along the length of the chambers, which was 175 feet, there was an entrance on the north; the width was 87½ feet.

³Opposite the 35 foot space belonging to the inner court and opposite the paved surface belonging to the outer court, the structure rose gallery by gallery in three tiers.

⁴In front of the chambers was a walkway toward the inside, 17½ feet wide and 175 feet long, and their entrances were on the north.

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

⁶For they were arranged in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and middle stories.

⁷A wall on the outside ran in front of the chambers, parallel to them, toward the outer court; it was 87½ feet long.

⁸For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet long, while those facing the great hall were 175 feet long.

⁹At the base of these chambers there was an entryway on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the south, there were chambers facing the temple yard and the western building,

¹¹with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that faced north. Their length and width, as well as all their exits, measurements, and entrances, were identical.

¹²The entrance at the beginning of the passageway, the way in front of the corresponding wall as one enters on the east side, was similar to the entrances of the chambers that were on the south side.

¹³Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will deposit the most holy offerings — the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings — for the place is holy.

¹⁴Once the priests have entered, they are not to go out from the holy area to the outer court until they have removed the clothes they minister in, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the public area.”

¹⁵When he finished measuring inside the temple complex, he led me out by way of the gate that faced east and measured all around the complex.

¹⁶He measured the east side with a measuring rod; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁷He measured the north side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁸He measured the south side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod.

¹⁹Then he turned to the west side and measured 875 feet by the measuring rod.

²⁰He measured the temple complex on all four sides. It had a wall all around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy from the common.

¹He led me to the gate, the one that faces east,

²and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice sounded like the roar of a huge torrent, and the earth shone with his glory.

³The vision I saw was like the one I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the ones I had seen by the Chebar Canal. I fell facedown.

⁴The glory of the LORD entered the temple by way of the gate that faced east.

⁵Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁶While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from the temple.

⁷He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile my holy name by their religious prostitution and by the corpses of their kings at their high places.

⁸Whenever they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by the detestable acts they committed. So I destroyed them in my anger.

⁹Now let them remove their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰“As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure its pattern,

¹¹and they will be ashamed of all that they have done. Reveal the design of the temple to them — its layout with its exits and entrances  — its complete design along with all its statutes, design specifications, and laws. Write it down in their sight so that they may observe its complete design and all its statutes and may carry them out.

¹²This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be especially holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar in units of length (each unit being the standard length plus three inches): The gutter is 21 inches deep and 21 inches wide, with a rim of nine inches around its edge. This is the base of the altar.

¹⁴The distance from the gutter on the ground to the lower ledge is 3½ feet, and the width of the ledge is 21 inches. There are 7 feet from the small ledge to the large ledge, whose width is also 21 inches.

¹⁵The altar hearth is 7 feet high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.

¹⁶The hearth is square, 21 feet long by 21 feet wide.

¹⁷The ledge is 24½ feet long by 24½ feet wide, with four equal sides. The rim all around it is 10½ inches, and its gutter is 21 inches all around it. The altar’s steps face east.”

¹⁸Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is constructed, so that burnt offerings may be sacrificed on it and blood may be splattered on it:

¹⁹You are to give a bull from the herd as a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, who approach me in order to serve me.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

²⁰“You are to take some of its blood and apply it to the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. In this way you will purify the altar and make atonement for it.

²¹Then you are to take away the bull for the sin offering, and it must be burned outside the sanctuary in the place appointed for the temple.

²²“On the second day you are to present an unblemished male goat as a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they did with the bull.

²³When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.

²⁴You are to present them before the LORD; the priests will throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵You will offer a goat for a sin offering each day for seven days. A young bull and a ram from the flock, both unblemished, are also to be offered.

²⁶For seven days the priests are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it. In this way they will consecrate it

²⁷and complete the days of purification. Then on the eighth day and afterward, the priests will offer your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar, and I will accept you.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.