A vision of the temple

40 In the 25th year that we had been prisoners in Babylon, the Lord took hold of me with great power. It happened on the tenth day of the first month of the year. It was 14 years since Babylonian soldiers had destroyed the city of Jerusalem. In a vision, the Lord took me there. ² In the vision, he took me to the land of Israel. He put me on a very high mountain. When I looked towards the south, I saw a group of buildings that looked like a city. ³ The Lord took me there. Then I saw a man who shone brightly like bronze. He was standing at the entrance of a building. He held a linen rope and a stick in his hand. He used them to measure things. ⁴ The man said to me, ‘Son of man, watch and listen carefully to me. Remember everything that I will show you. God has brought you here so that I can show these things to you. Tell Israel's people about everything that you see.’

The east gate

⁵ I saw a wall all the way round the place where the temple was. The stick in the man's hand was 3 metres long. He used it to measure the wall. The wall was 3 metres wide and 3 metres high.

⁶ Then he went to the gate on the east side. He climbed its steps and he measured the size of the entrance. It was 3 metres deep. ⁷ Beyond this was a passage with three rooms on each side. They were rooms for the guards. Each of these rooms was 3 metres long and 3 metres wide. The walls between the rooms were 2½ metres thick. Beyond them was a passage that was 3 metres long. This went to an entrance room to the yard of the temple. ⁸ The man measured the entrance room at the end of the passage. ⁹ It was 4 metres long. It had pillars that were 1 metre thick. It was the nearest part of the gate to the temple. ¹⁰ The three rooms on each side of the passage at the east gate were all the same size. The walls that were between each room were also the same size.

¹¹ Then the man measured the passage that went through the gate's entrance. The passage was 6½ metres wide. The gate's entrance itself was 5 metres wide. ¹² There was a low wall in front of the rooms on each side of the passage. It was ½ metre high. The rooms were 3 metres square. ¹³ The man also measured between the back wall of one room and the back wall of the room opposite. It was 12½ metres from one wall to the other wall, across the passage. ¹⁴ The entrance room had pillars on the outside that were 30 metres high. The yard was all around three sides of the room. ¹⁵ The passage was 25 metres long, from the gate at the front to the entrance room into the yard. ¹⁶ The rooms for the guards all had small windows in their outside walls. The walls between the rooms also had small windows. The entrance room to the yard also had windows of the same kind. Men had cut pictures of palm trees on the inside walls of the passage.^[a]

The outside yard

¹⁷ The man took me through the entrance gate into the outside yard of the temple. I saw 30 rooms there, all along the wall of the yard. A path of flat stones was in front of the rooms. ¹⁸ The path went all around the yard and it covered the space between the gates. It was called the lower path.

¹⁹ The man measured across the outside yard. He measured from the lower gate to the higher gate that went into the inside yard. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The north gate

²⁰ Then the man measured the gate on the north side of the outside yard. ²¹ He measured the three rooms on each side of the passage and the walls between them. He also measured the entrance room itself. They all measured the same as those in the east gate. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and it was 12½ metres wide. ²² The entrance room, the windows and the pictures of palm trees were the same as those in the east gate. Seven steps went up to the north gate. The entrance room into the yard was at the end of the passage. ²³ Opposite this gate, across the yard, was the gate to the inside yard. It was the same as on the east side. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The south gate

²⁴ Next, the man took me to the south side of the yard. I saw another gate there. The man measured the walls and the rooms in that entrance. They were the same size as the other walls and rooms. ²⁵ The rooms in this entrance had windows that were the same as those in the other entrances. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and it was 12½ metres wide. ²⁶ Seven steps went up to it. The entrance room to the yard was at the end of the passage. There were pictures of palm trees on the inside walls of the passage. ²⁷ The inside yard of the temple also had a gate on the south side. The man measured 50 metres between the two gates.

The south gate of the inside yard

²⁸ The man took me through the south gate into the inside yard. He measured the gate. It was the same size as the gates in the outside wall. ²⁹ The rooms for the guards, the walls between them and theentrance room were the same size as the ones at the other gates. There were windows along its walls and in the entrance room. As at the other gates, the whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁰ The entrance rooms around the inside yard were 12½ metres wide and 2½ metres long. ³¹ The entrance room of this gate opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage. Eight steps went up to this gate.

The east gate of the inside yard

³² The man took me to the east side the inside yard. He measured the gate. It was the same size as the other gates. ³³ The rooms for the guards, the walls between them and theentrance room were the same size as the ones at the other gates. There were windows along its walls and in the entrance room. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁴ The entrance room of this gate opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage. Eight steps went up to this gate.

The north gate of the inside yard

³⁵ Then the man took me to the north gate. He measured it. It was the same size as the other gates, ³⁶ with rooms for the guards, their walls and an entrance room with windows. The whole entrance was 25 metres long and 12½ metres wide. ³⁷ The door of the entrance room opened towards the outside yard. There were pictures of palm trees on the walls of the passage, on both sides. Eight steps went up to this gate.

Buildings near the north gate

³⁸ There was a small building joined to the entrance room of the north gate. There was a door between this building and the entrance room. In that building, the priests washed the dead bodies of animals for burnt offerings. ³⁹ In the entrance room there were four tables, two on each side of the room. They killed the animals for sacrifices on these tables. They were animals for burnt offerings and also for sin offerings and for guilt offerings.

⁴⁰ There were four more tables outside the entrance room of the north gate. Two tables were on each side of the steps at the entrance. ⁴¹ So there were eight tables on which they killed animals for sacrifices. Four tables were in the yard outside the entrance. Four tables were inside the entrance room. ⁴² They had used stone to make four tables for the burnt offerings. These tables were 50 centimetres high. Their tops were 75 centimetres square. They put the knives and the other tools that they used to kill the animals on these tables. ⁴³ They put the meat for the offerings on the stone tables. There were hooks all around the inside walls of the room. Each hook was 7½ centimetres long.

⁴⁴ There were two rooms for singers that had doors to the inside yard. One was beside the north gate and its door opened towards the south. The other room was beside the south gate and its door opened towards the north. ⁴⁵ The man said to me, ‘The room beside the north gate is for the priests who take care of the temple. ⁴⁶ The room beside the south gate is for the priests who serve God at the altar. These priests are descendants of Zadok.^[b] They are the only descendants of Levi who may come near to the Lord to serve him.’

⁴⁷ The man measured the inside yard. It was square, 50 metres long and 50 metres wide. There was an altar in front of the temple.

The temple building

⁴⁸ The man took me into the entrance room of the temple building. He measured the walls on each side of the entrance. They were 2½ metres thick. The entrance was 7 metres wide. The walls on each side of the entrance were 1½ metres wide. ⁴⁹ The entrance room was 10 metres wide and 6 metres long. Steps went up to the entrance room. There were two pillars, one on each side of the entrance.