On April 28, during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity--fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem--the LORD took hold of me.
In a vision of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see what appeared to be a city across from me toward the south.
As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a measuring tape and a measuring rod.
He said to me, "Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen."
I could see a wall completely surrounding the Temple area. The man took a measuring rod that was 10 1/2 feet long and measured the wall, and the wall was 10 1/2 feet thick and 10 1/2 feet high.
Then he went over to the gateway that goes through the eastern wall. He climbed the steps and measured the threshold of the gateway; it was 10 1/2 feet deep.
There were guard alcoves on each side built into the gateway passage. Each of these alcoves was 10 1/2 feet square, with a distance between them of 8 3/4 feet along the passage wall. The gateway's inner threshold, which led to the foyer at the inner end of the gateway passage, was 10 1/2 feet deep.
He also measured the foyer of the gateway
and found it to be 14 feet deep, with supporting columns 3 1/2 feet thick. This foyer was at the inner end of the gateway structure, facing toward the Temple.
There were three guard alcoves on each side of the gateway passage. Each had the same measurements, and the dividing walls separating them were also identical.
The man measured the gateway entrance, which was 17 1/2 feet wide at the opening and 22 3/4 feet wide in the gateway passage.
In front of each of the guard alcoves was a 21-inch curb. The alcoves themselves were 10 1/2 feet square.
Then he measured the entire width of the gateway, measuring the distance between the back walls of facing guard alcoves; this distance was 43 3/4 feet.
He measured the dividing walls all along the inside of the gateway up to the gateway's foyer; this distance was 105 feet.
The full length of the gateway passage was 87 1/2 feet from one end to the other.
There were recessed windows that narrowed inward through the walls of the guard alcoves and their dividing walls. There were also windows in the foyer structure. The surfaces of the dividing walls were decorated with carved palm trees.
Then the man brought me through the gateway into the outer courtyard of the Temple. A stone pavement ran along the walls of the courtyard, and thirty rooms were built against the walls, opening onto the pavement.
This pavement flanked the gates and extended out from the walls into the courtyard the same distance as the gateway entrance. This was the lower pavement.
Then the man measured across the Temple's outer courtyard between the outer and inner gateways; the distance was 175 feet.
There was a gateway on the north just like the one on the east, and the man measured it.
Here, too, there were three guard alcoves on each side, with dividing walls and a foyer. All the measurements matched those of the east gateway. The gateway passage was 87 1/2 feet long and 43 3/4 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves.
The windows, the foyer, and the palm tree decorations were identical to those in the east gateway. There were seven steps leading up to the gateway entrance, and the foyer was at the inner end of the gateway passage.
Here on the north side, just as on the east, there was another gateway leading to the Temple's inner courtyard directly opposite this outer gateway. The distance between the two gateways was 175 feet.
Then the man took me around to the south gateway and measured its various parts, and he found they were exactly the same as in the others.
It had windows along the walls as the others did, and there was a foyer where the gateway passage opened into the outer courtyard. And like the others, the gateway passage was 87 1/2 feet long and 43 3/4 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves.
This gateway also had a stairway of seven steps leading up to it, and there were palm tree decorations along the dividing walls.
And here again, directly opposite the outer gateway, was another gateway that led into the inner courtyard. The distance between the two gateways was 175 feet.
Then the man took me to the south gateway leading into the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways.
Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer were the same size as those in the others. It also had windows along its walls and in the foyer structure. And like the others, the gateway passage was 87 1/2 feet long and 43 3/4 feet wide.
(The foyers of the gateways leading into the inner courtyard were 8 3/4 feet deep and 43 3/4 feet wide.)
The foyer of the south gateway faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance.
Then he took me to the east gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways.
Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer were the same size as those of the others, and there were windows along the walls and in the foyer structure. The gateway passage measured 87 1/2 feet long and 43 3/4 feet wide.
Its foyer faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance.
Then he took me around to the north gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways.
The guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer of this gateway had the same measurements as in the others and the same window arrangements. The gateway passage measured 87 1/2 feet long and 43 3/4 feet wide.
Its foyer faced into the outer courtyard, and it had palm tree decorations on the columns. There were eight steps leading to its entrance.
A door led from the foyer of the inner gateway on the north side into a side room where the meat for sacrifices was washed before being taken to the altar.
On each side of this foyer were two tables, where the sacrificial animals were slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.
Outside the foyer, on each side of the stairs going up to the north entrance, there were two more tables.
So there were eight tables in all, four inside and four outside, where the sacrifices were cut up and prepared.
There were also four tables of hewn stone for preparation of the burnt offerings, each 31 1/2 inches square and 21 inches high. On these tables were placed the butchering knives and other implements and the sacrificial animals.
There were hooks, each three inches long, fastened to the foyer walls and set on the tables where the sacrificial meat was to be laid.
Inside the inner courtyard there were two one-room buildings for the singers, one beside the north gateway, facing south, and the other beside the south gateway, facing north.
And the man said to me, "The building beside the north inner gate is for the priests who supervise the Temple maintenance.
The building beside the south inner gate is for the priests in charge of the altar--the descendants of Zadok--for they alone of all the Levites may approach the LORD to minister to him."
Then the man measured the inner courtyard and found it to be 175 feet square. The altar stood there in the courtyard in front of the Temple.
Then he brought me to the foyer of the Temple. He measured its supporting columns and found them to be 8 3/4 feet square. The entrance was 24 1/2 feet wide with walls 5 1/4 feet thick.
The depth of the foyer was 35 feet and the width was 19 1/4 feet. There were ten steps leading up to it, with a column on each side.