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¹After that, the man brought me into the sanctuary of the Temple. He measured the walls on either side of its doorway, and they were 10 1⁄2 feet thick.

²The doorway was 17 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of it were 8 3⁄4 feet long. The sanctuary itself was 70 feet long and 35 feet wide.

³Then he went beyond the sanctuary into the inner room. He measured the walls on either side of its entrance, and they were 3 1⁄2 feet thick. The entrance was 10 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were 12 1⁄4 feet long.

⁴The inner room of the sanctuary was 35 feet long and 35 feet wide. “This,” he told me, “is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵Then he measured the wall of the Temple, and it was 10 1⁄2 feet thick. There was a row of rooms along the outside wall; each room was 7 feet wide.

⁶These side rooms were built in three levels, one above the other, with thirty rooms on each level. The supports for these side rooms rested on exterior ledges on the Temple wall; they did not extend into the wall.

⁷Each level was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway led up from the bottom level through the middle level to the top level.

⁸I saw that the Temple was built on a terrace, which provided a foundation for the side rooms. This terrace was 10 1⁄2 feet high.

⁹The outer wall of the Temple’s side rooms was 8 3⁄4 feet thick. This left an open area between these side rooms

¹⁰and the row of rooms along the outer wall of the inner courtyard. This open area was 35 feet wide, and it went all the way around the Temple.

¹¹Two doors opened from the side rooms into the terrace yard, which was 8 3⁄4 feet wide. One door faced north and the other south.

¹²A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple courtyard. It was 122 1⁄2 feet wide and 157 1⁄2 feet long, and its walls were 8 3⁄4 feet thick.

¹³Then the man measured the Temple, and it was 175 feet long. The courtyard around the building, including its walls, was an additional 175 feet in length.

¹⁴The inner courtyard to the east of the Temple was also 175 feet wide.

¹⁵The building to the west, including its two walls, was also 175 feet wide. The sanctuary, the inner room, and the entry room of the Temple

¹⁶were all paneled with wood, as were the frames of the recessed windows. The inner walls of the Temple were paneled with wood above and below the windows.

¹⁷The space above the door leading into the inner room, and its walls inside and out, were also paneled.

¹⁸All the walls were decorated with carvings of cherubim, each with two faces, and there was a carving of a palm tree between each of the cherubim.

¹⁹One face — that of a man — looked toward the palm tree on one side. The other face — that of a young lion — looked toward the palm tree on the other side. The figures were carved all along the inside of the Temple,

²⁰from the floor to the top of the walls, including the outer wall of the sanctuary.

²¹There were square columns at the entrance to the sanctuary, and the ones at the entrance of the Most Holy Place were similar.

²²There was an altar made of wood, 5 1⁄4 feet high and 3 1⁄2 feet across. Its corners, base, and sides were all made of wood. “This,” the man told me, “is the table that stands in the LORD’s presence.”

²³Both the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doorways,

²⁴each with two swinging doors.

²⁵The doors leading into the sanctuary were decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. And there was a wooden roof at the front of the entry room to the Temple.

²⁶On both sides of the entry room were recessed windows decorated with carved palm trees. The side rooms along the outside wall also had roofs.

¹Then the man led me out of the Temple courtyard by way of the north gateway. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a group of rooms against the north wall of the inner courtyard.

²This structure, whose entrance opened toward the north, was 175 feet long and 87 1⁄2 feet wide.

³One block of rooms overlooked the 35-foot width of the inner courtyard. Another block of rooms looked out onto the pavement of the outer courtyard. The two blocks were built three levels high and stood across from each other.

⁴Between the two blocks of rooms ran a walkway 17 1⁄2 feet wide. It extended the entire 175 feet of the complex, and all the doors faced north.

⁵Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them.

⁶Since there were three levels and they did not have supporting columns as in the courtyards, each of the upper levels was set back from the level beneath it.

⁷There was an outer wall that separated the rooms from the outer courtyard; it was 87 1⁄2 feet long.

⁸This wall added length to the outer block of rooms, which extended for only 87 1⁄2 feet, while the inner block — the rooms toward the Temple — extended for 175 feet.

⁹There was an eastern entrance from the outer courtyard to these rooms.

¹⁰On the south side of the Temple there were two blocks of rooms just south of the inner courtyard between the Temple and the outer courtyard. These rooms were arranged just like the rooms on the north.

¹¹There was a walkway between the two blocks of rooms just like the complex on the north side of the Temple. This complex of rooms was the same length and width as the other one, and it had the same entrances and doors. The dimensions of each were identical.

¹²So there was an entrance in the wall facing the doors of the inner block of rooms, and another on the east at the end of the interior walkway.

¹³Then the man told me, “These rooms that overlook the Temple from the north and south are holy. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. And because these rooms are holy, they will be used to store the sacred offerings — the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.

¹⁴When the priests leave the sanctuary, they must not go directly to the outer courtyard. They must first take off the clothes they wore while ministering, because these clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before entering the parts of the building complex open to the public.”

¹⁵When the man had finished measuring the inside of the Temple area, he led me out through the east gateway to measure the entire perimeter.

¹⁶He measured the east side with his measuring rod, and it was 875 feet long.

¹⁷Then he measured the north side, and it was also 875 feet.

¹⁸The south side was also 875 feet,

¹⁹and the west side was also 875 feet.

²⁰So the area was 875 feet on each side with a wall all around it to separate what was holy from what was common.

¹After this, the man brought me back around to the east gateway.

²Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape shone with his glory.

³This vision was just like the others I had seen, first by the Kebar River and then when he came to destroy Jerusalem. I fell face down on the ground.

⁴And the glory of the LORD came into the Temple through the east gateway.

⁵Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and the glory of the LORD filled the Temple.

⁶And I heard someone speaking to me from within the Temple, while the man who had been measuring stood beside me.

⁷The LORD said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place where I will rest my feet. I will live here forever among the people of Israel. They and their kings will not defile my holy name any longer by their adulterous worship of other gods or by honoring the relics of their kings who have died.

⁸They put their idol altars right next to mine with only a wall between them and me. They defiled my holy name by such detestable sin, so I consumed them in my anger.

⁹Now let them stop worshiping other gods and honoring the relics of their kings, and I will live among them forever.

¹⁰“Son of man, describe to the people of Israel the Temple I have shown you, so they will be ashamed of all their sins. Let them study its plan,

¹¹and they will be ashamed of what they have done. Describe to them all the specifications of the Temple — including its entrances and exits — and everything else about it. Tell them about its decrees and laws. Write down all these specifications and decrees as they watch so they will be sure to remember and follow them.

¹²And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple.

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar : There is a gutter all around the altar 21 inches deep and 21 inches wide, with a curb 9 inches wide around its edge. And this is the height of the altar:

¹⁴From the gutter the altar rises 3 1⁄2 feet to a lower ledge that surrounds the altar and is 21 inches wide. From the lower ledge the altar rises 7 feet to the upper ledge that is also 21 inches wide.

¹⁵The top of the altar, the hearth, rises another 7 feet higher, with a horn rising up from each of the four corners.

¹⁶The top of the altar is square, measuring 21 feet by 21 feet.

¹⁷The upper ledge also forms a square, measuring 24 1⁄2 feet by 24 1⁄2 feet, with a 21-inch gutter and a 10 1⁄2-inch curb all around the edge. There are steps going up the east side of the altar.”

¹⁸Then he said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood when the altar is built.

¹⁹At that time, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who minister before me, are to be given a young bull for a sin offering, says the Sovereign LORD.

²⁰You will take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the upper ledge, and the curb that runs around that ledge. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar.

²¹Then take the young bull for the sin offering and burn it at the appointed place outside the Temple area.

²²“On the second day, sacrifice as a sin offering a young male goat that has no physical defects. Then cleanse and make atonement for the altar again, just as you did with the young bull.

²³When you have finished the cleansing ceremony, offer another young bull that has no defects and a perfect ram from the flock.

²⁴You are to present them to the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵“Every day for seven days a male goat, a young bull, and a ram from the flock will be sacrificed as a sin offering. None of these animals may have physical defects of any kind.

²⁶Do this each day for seven days to cleanse and make atonement for the altar, thus setting it apart for holy use.

²⁷On the eighth day, and on each day afterward, the priests will sacrifice on the altar the burnt offerings and peace offerings of the people. Then I will accept you. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”