Ezekiel 42

₁Then the man took me to the outer courtyard at the northern side and he took me to the room on the other side of the open space and on the other side of the building at the northern side of the temple. ₂The building on the northern side of the temple was 100 cubits long and 50 cubits wide. ₃The building was 20 cubits from the side of the inner courtyard, on the other side of the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The building was built on 3 very big steps. ₄There was a path on the northern side of the rooms on the inside. It was 10 cubits wide and 100 cubits long. Someone could go from the northern side onto the path. ₅The upper rooms were smaller than the other rooms below, because the big steps became narrower towards the top. ₆The rooms were on 3 floors, but there were no pillars under them like the pillars at the courtyards. That is why the upper rooms were smaller than the middle rooms and the lower rooms. ₇There was a wall on the outside of the rooms. The wall went as far as the outer courtyard in front of the rooms. The wall was 50 cubits long. ₈The building with the rooms next to the outer courtyard was 50 cubits long and on the other side of the temple it was 100 cubits long. ₉Someone could go from the outside of the courtyard at the east to the lower rooms.

₁₀There were also rooms next to the wall of the outer courtyard. They were east of the open space and on the other side of the other building. ₁₁There was a path in front of the rooms. It was like the path in front of the rooms on the northern side and the rooms were as big as the rooms at the northern side. Someone could go into the rooms from there. ₁₂At the end of the path on the southern side was a door. It was like the doors of the rooms at the northern side. The path was next to the wall, east of the door.

₁₃The man said to me: ‘The rooms to the north and the rooms to the south of the courtyard are the holy rooms. The priests who work at the altar must eat the most_holy_offerings there. It is a holy place and they must put the most_holy_offerings there. These are the wheat-offerings, the sin-offerings and the guilt-offerings. ₁₄The priests who come into the temple-ground to work must first take off their clothes before they go out to the outer courtyard, because the clothes of the priests are holy. They must put on other clothes before they go out to the other people in the outer courtyard.’

₁₅After the man had measured the temple, the inside and the outside, he took me outside through the outer eastern gate and he measured the outside of the temple-ground. _16-20The temple-ground was 500 measuring-sticks long and 500 measuring-sticks wide. There was a wall around the temple-ground that separated the temple-ground from the outside world.