The Temple Profaned

Moreover, they transformed the splendor of His jewels into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.

Then He brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord while their faces were toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

Then the glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose waist was the scribe’s kit.

Utterly kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.

He also said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city.

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple

Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them.

Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.

Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.

Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.

Measurements Relating to the Temple

And behold, there was a wall on the outside of the temple all around, and in the man’s hand was a measuring rod of six cubits, each of which was a cubit and a hand width. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one rod; and the height, one rod.

Then he said to me, “This is the chamber which faces south, intended for the priests who are responsible for the temple;

He measured the courtyard, a perfect square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide; and the altar was in front of the temple.

Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured each side pillar of the porch, five cubits on each side; and the width of the gate was three cubits on each side.

The Inner Temple

Then he brought me to the sanctuary, and he measured the side pillars: six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar.

Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the house on every side.

The side chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, so that they could be attached, but not be attached to the wall of the temple itself.

And the side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story. Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all sides of the temple, for that reason the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second story.

The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple

and the outer chambers was twenty cubits in width around the temple on every side.

Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area with the building and its walls were also a hundred cubits long.

Also the width of the front of the temple and that of the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.

Chambers of the Temple

Then he brought me out into the outer courtyard, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the chamber which was opposite the separate area and opposite the building toward the north.

Vision of the Glory of God Filling the Temple

Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east;

“As for you, son of man, inform the house of Israel of the temple, so that they will be ashamed of their wrongdoings; and have them measure the plan.

Water from the Temple

Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar.