Ezekiel 42

42 ¹ Then he led me out into the outer court, toward the north, and brought me to the chamber that faced the separate courtyard and the building on the north side. ² Its length, along the side with the north door, was about a hundred and fifty feet, and its width was about seventy-five feet. ³ Facing the thirty feet of the inner court and facing the pavement of the outer court, the galleries faced each other in three tiers. ⁴ In front of the chambers was a walkway about fifteen feet wide, leading inward, a path of about eighteen inches; and their doors opened toward the north. ⁵ Now the upper chambers were shorter, because the galleries took space from them, more than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. ⁶ For they were in three tiers, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; so the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle. ⁷ There was an outer wall running alongside the chambers, toward the outer court in front of the chambers; it was about seventy-five feet long. ⁸ For the chambers along the outer court were about seventy-five feet long, while those facing the temple were about a hundred and fifty feet. ⁹ Below these chambers was the entrance on the east side, where one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰ Along the thickness of the court wall toward the east, in front of the separate courtyard and the building, there were chambers, ¹¹ with a walkway in front of them. They looked like the chambers on the north, the same length and width, with the same exits, arrangements, and doors. ¹² And matching the doors of the chambers toward the south, there was a door at the head of the walkway, the walkway directly in front of the wall toward the east, where one enters them.

¹³ Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers facing the separate courtyard are the holy chambers, where the priests who draw near to our Father will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings — the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering — for the place is holy. ¹ 1 v13 These most holy offerings — given for sin and guilt — point ahead to Jesus, the once-for-all offering who opens the way to draw near to our Father. ¹⁴ When the priests enter, they must not go out from the holy place into the outer court until they have laid down the garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they must put on other garments before they approach the area for the people."

The Boundary of the Holy Ground

¹⁵ When he had finished measuring the inner temple area, he led me out by the gate that faces east and measured the whole area all around. ¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring reed: about a mile all around. ² 2 v16 A measuring reed was about ten feet (roughly three meters) long — the rod used to mark out the temple's sacred dimensions. ¹⁷ He measured the north side: about a mile all around. ¹⁸ He measured the south side: about a mile. ¹⁹ He turned to the west side and measured about a mile. ²⁰ He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall all around, about a mile long and about a mile wide, to separate the holy from the common.