Ezekiel 42
About EzekielWritten by AI
Ezekiel is a book of prophecy from exile. Ezekiel was a priest taken to Babylon with King Jehoiachin in 597 BC. Five years later, by the River Kebar, he saw a stunning vision of God's glory and was called as a prophet. His messages are carefully dated, running from about 593 to 571 BC, and are usually held to be his own.
The book moves in three parts. Chapters 1 to 24 warn that Jerusalem will fall, and show God's glory leaving the temple. Chapters 25 to 32 speak to the surrounding nations. After news arrives that the city has fallen, chapters 33 to 48 turn to hope: a new heart, dry bones brought to life, and a renewed temple where God dwells.
Expect strange visions and acted signs. Ezekiel lies on his side, shaves his head, and loses his wife as a sign. Watch for the repeated phrase that they will know that I am the LORD. The whole book is about God making Himself known.
Before you read Ezekiel 42Written by AI
The tour covers the priests' chambers, where they eat the holy offerings and change garments. Then the outer wall is measured on all four sides. It separates the holy from the common, a theme that runs through these chapters.
Chambers for the Priests
Then the man led me out northward into the outer court, and he brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple courtyard and the outer wall on the north side. The building with the door facing north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide. Gallery faced gallery in three levels opposite the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court.
In front of the chambers was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north.
Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space from the chambers on the lower and middle floors of the building. For they were arranged in three stories, and unlike the courts, they had no pillars. So the upper chambers were set back further than the lower and middle floors. An outer wall in front of the chambers was fifty cubits long and ran parallel to the chambers and the outer court. For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the temple were a hundred cubits long. And below these chambers was the entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.
On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court were chambers adjoining the courtyard and opposite the building, with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that were on the north. They had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. And corresponding to the doors of the chambers that were facing south, there was a door in front of the walkway that was parallel to the wall extending eastward.
Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy. Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.”
The Outer Measurements
Now when the man had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and he measured the area all around:
With a measuring rod he measured the east side to be five hundred cubits long.
He measured the north side to be five hundred cubits long.
He measured the south side to be five hundred cubits long.
And he came around and measured the west side to be five hundred cubits long.
So he measured the area 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.