Ezekiel41
World English Bible · Public Domain
1He brought me to the nave and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent.
2The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
3Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.
4He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”
5Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.
6The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house.
7The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.
8I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.
9The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.
10Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.
12The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
13So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
14also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
15He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court,
16the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),
17to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
18It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,
19so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around.
20Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.
21The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple.
22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.”
23The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
25There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
26There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the temple and the thresholds were arranged.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 41.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Vision of the Temple. (1-26).
vv1-26
After the prophet had observed the courts, he was brought to the temple. If we attend to instructions in the plainer parts of religion, and profit by them, we shall be led further into an acquaintance with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
Key Words
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
הֵיכָל: a large public building, such as a palace or temple
מָדַד: properly, to stretch; by implication, to measure (as if by stretching a line); figuratively, to be extended
אַיִל: properly, strength; hence, anything strong; specifically a chief (politically); also a ram (from his strength); a pilaster (as a strong support); an oak or other strong tree
פֹּה: this place (French ici), i.e. here or hence
שֵׁשׁ: six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand); as ord. sixth
אַמָּה: properly, a mother (i.e. unit of measure, or the fore-arm (below the elbow), i.e. a cubit; also a door-base (as a bond of the entrance)
רֹחַב: width (literally or figuratively)
אֹהֶל: a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance)
פֶּתַח: an opening (literally), i.e. door (gate) or entrance way
Cross References
Ezekiel 41The dimensions of the temple house correspond directly with Solomon's temple measurements.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The Holy of Holies is a perfect square of twenty cubits, as in Solomon's temple.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Matches the structural design of side chambers resting on ledges without entering the main temple wall.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Describes the winding stairs or passages ascending upward through the stories of side chambers.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The measuring reed of six great cubits defines the foundations of the side chambers.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Carvings of cherubim and palm trees decorated the walls and doors of Solomon's temple.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies the wooden altar as the table where priests minister directly before the Lord.
Supported by JFB
The dimensions of the wooden altar of incense are compared with the tabernacle's golden altar.
Supported by JFB
Establishes the boundary dividing the holy place from the most holy place in the tabernacle.
Solomon built side chambers against the walls of the temple round about both sanctuary and oracle.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains how the upper chambers were wider as the walls of the house receded.
The two faces of the cherubim (man and lion) link back to the four-faced living creatures.
The squared posts of the temple entrance parallel the square posts in Solomon's temple.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The theological significance of the Holy of Holies and access into the divine presence.
The narrow windows and palm tree decorations echo the design elements of the outer gates.
Solomon's temple likewise featured narrow, latticed windows for light and ventilation.
The altar is functionally called the 'table of the Lord' in sacrificial vocabulary.
The two folding leaves for each of the two doors matches the entrance pattern.