The Babylonian Exile

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.”

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.

Then the man brought me back to the gate that faces east,

and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.

The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,

and the glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.

Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple,

and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offerings for their kings at their deaths.

When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the abominations they committed. Therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

Now let them remove far from Me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will dwell among them forever.

As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure the plan,

and if they are ashamed of all they have done, then make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement and its exits and entrances—its whole design along with all its statutes, forms, and laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its complete design and all its statutes and may carry them out.

This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.

These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits (a cubit and a handbreadth): Its gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this is the height of the altar: