Ezekiel 40

ENGWEBEnglish49 verses

1In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there.

2In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.

3He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

4The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, you are brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel.

5Behold, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand breadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

6Then came he to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad.

7Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.

8He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed.

9Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.

10The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

11He measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits;

12and a border before the lodges, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.

13He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; door against door.

14He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate.

15From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits.

16There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches; and windows were around inward; and on each post were palm trees.

17Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement, made for the court all around: thirty rooms were on the pavement.

18The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement.

19Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.

20The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its breadth.

21The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.

22The windows of it, and its arches, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.

23There was a gate to the inner court facing the other gate, on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.

24He led me toward the south; and behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.

25There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.

26There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts.

27There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.

28Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;

29and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.

30There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad.

31The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

32He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures;

33and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.

34The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

35He brought me to the north gate: and he measured it according to these measures;

36its lodges, its posts, and its arches: and there were windows therein all around; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.

37The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

38A room with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering.

39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.

40On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.

41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed the sacrifices.

42There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.

43The hooks, a hand breadth long, were fastened within all around: and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.

44Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.

45He said to me, This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house;

46and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him.

47He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, square; and the altar was before the house.

48Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.

49The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

Commentary

40:1-49 The Vision of the Temple. - Here is a vision, beginning at ch. 40, and continued to the end of the book, ch. 48, which is justly looked upon to be one of the most difficult portions in all the book of God. When we despair to be satisfied as to any difficulty we meet with, let us bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough; and let us wait till God shall reveal even this unto us. This chapter describes two outward courts of the temple. Whether the personage here mentioned was the Son of God, or a created angel, is not clear. But Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice, to whom we must look with faith in all approaches to God; and he is Salvation in the midst of the earth, Ps 74:12, to be looked unto from all quarters.

"\nIn the five and twentieth year of our captivity,.... That is, from Jeconiah's captivity, from whence this prophet begins his dates: he calls it our captivity, because he himself was then carried captive; and this was twenty years after his first vision; see Eze 1:1:\n\nin the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month; the Jews had two beginnings of their year, the one on civil accounts, which was in the autumnal equinox, in the month Tisri, which answers to part of our September; and if this is meant here, the tenth day of it was the day of atonement, in which the Jews were to afflict their souls; but on this day the prophet has a view of the Gospel church, which receives the atonement by the sacrifice of Christ: the other beginning of the year, which was on ecclesiastic accounts, was in the vernal equinox, the month Nisan, which answers to part of our March; and the tenth day of it was the day that the passover lamb was separated from the flock, and kept up till the fourteenth; the time between Christ's public entry into Jerusalem, and his being sacrificed as the passover for us. Some interpreters go one way, some the other: it is not easy to determine which is meant; though I think more probably the latter, since church affairs are chiefly here represented. This, according to the Talmudists {n}, was the year of the jubilee: Bishop Usher {o} places it in the year of the world 3430 A.M., and before Christ 574; and makes the day to be the thirtieth of April, and the third day of the week (Tuesday); and, as to the year, Mr. Whiston {p} agrees with, him:\n\nin the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten; taken, broken up, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; its walls demolished; its houses burnt, and inhabitants put to the sword, or carried captive. This was in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, to which add the fourteen years from hence and they make twenty five, as reckoned from Jeconiah's captivity:\n\nin the self-same day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me hither; that is, on the tenth day of the month, of the new year, begin when it will. The Spirit of the Lord, which is sometimes called the finger of God, and the power of God, this fell upon him, or was laid on him, and impressed his mind and soul; and he in a visionary way, as appears by what follows, was brought into, the land of Israel, and to Jerusalem, according as things were represented to his mind; though, as to his body, he was still in the land of Chaldea. The Targum interprets "the hand of the Lord" the spirit of prophecy; see Eze 1:3.\n\n{n} T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 12. 1. {o} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3430. {p} Chronological Tables, cent. 10.\n\n\n\n "

CHAPTER 40Eze 40:1-49. The Remaining Chapters, the Fortieth through Forty-eighth, Give an Ideal Picture of the Restored Jewish Temple.The arrangements as to the land and the temple are, in many particulars, different from those subsisting before the captivity. There are things in it so improbable physically as to preclude a purely literal interpretation. The general truth seems to hold good that, as Israel served the nations for his rejection of Messiah, so shall they serve him in the person of Messiah, when he shall acknowledge Messiah (Isa 60:12; Zec 14:17-19; compare Ps 72:11). The ideal temple exhibits, under Old Testament forms (used as being those then familiar to the men whom Ezekiel, a priest himself, and one who delighted in sacrificial images, addresses), not the precise literal outline, but the essential character of the worship of Messiah as it shall be when He shall exercise sway in Jerusalem among His own people, the Jews, and thence to the ends of the earth. The very fact that the whole is a vision (Eze 40:2), not an oral face-to-face communication such as that granted to Moses (Nu 12:6-8), implies that the directions are not to be understood so precisely literally as those given to the Jewish lawgiver. The description involves things which, taken literally, almost involve natural impossibilities. The square of the temple, in Eze 42:20, is six times as large as the circuit of the wall enclosing the old temple, and larger than all the earthly Jerusalem. Ezekiel gives three and a half miles and one hundred forty yards to his temple square. The boundaries of the ancient city were about two and a half miles. Again, the city in Ezekiel has an area between three or four thousand square miles, including the holy ground set apart for the prince, priests, and Levites. This is nearly as large as the whole of Judea west of the Jordan. As Zion lay in the center of the ideal city, the one-half of the sacred portion extended to nearly thirty miles south of Jerusalem, that is, covered nearly the whole southern territory, which reached only to the Dead Sea (Eze 47:19), and yet five tribes were to have their inheritance on that side of Jerusalem, beyond the sacred portion (Eze 48:23-28). Where was land to be found for them there? A breadth of but four or five miles apiece would be left.

Read the full commentary Audio, full commentary and offline reading

Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG በተማረክን በሀያ አምስተኛው ዓመት በዓመቱ መጀመሪያ ከወሩ በአሥረኛው ቀን፥ ከተማይቱ ከተመታች በኋላ በአሥራ አራተኛው ዓመት፥ በዚያው ቀን የእግዚአብሔር እጅ በእኔ ላይ ነበረ እርሱም ወደዚ… አማርኛ ENGNIV In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year … English BCV ካብ እንማረኽ ኣብ መበል ዕስራን ሓሙሽተን ዓመት፥ ኣብ መጀመርታ እታ ዓመት፥ ኣብ ዓስረይቲ መዓልቲ እታ ወርሒ፥ እታ ኸተማ ኻብ እትውቃዕ፥ ኣብ መበል ዓሰርተ ኣርባዕተ ዓመታ፥ ልክዕ በታ መ… ትግርኛ GAZBIB Nuyi booji'amnee waggaa digdamii shanaffaatti, jalqaba waggichaatti, ji'icha keessaa guyyaa kurnaffaatti, mandarichi er… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወእምዝ አመ ዕሥራ ወኃሙሱ ዓመ እምዘተፄወውነ በቀዳሚ ወርኅ አመ ዐሡሩ ለሠርቅ ወበዐሠርቱ ወአርባዕቱ ዓመት እምድኅረ ተፄወወት ሀገር፡ ውእተ አሚረ ኮነ እደ እግዚአብሔር ላዕሌየ። giz GAZGAZ Nuyi booji'amnee waggaa digdamii shanaffaatti, jalqaba waggichaatti, ji'icha keessaa guyyaa kurnaffaatti, mandarichi er… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ካብ እንማረኽ ኣብ መበል ዕስራን ሓሙሽተን ዓመት፥ ኣብ መጀመርታ እታ ዓመት፥ ኣብ ዓስረይቲ መዓልቲ እታ ወርሒ፥ እታ ኸተማ ኻብ እትውቃዕ፥ ኣብ መበል ዓሰርተ ኣርባዕተ ዓመታ፥ ልክዕ በታ መ… ትግርኛ AMHNIV በተሰደድን በሃያ አምስተኛው ዓመት፣ በዓመቱ መጀመሪያ፣ በዐሥረኛው ቀን፣ ከተማዪቱ በወደቀች በዐሥራ አራተኛው ዓመት፣ በዚያው ዕለት የእግዚአብሔር እጅ በላዬ ነበር፤ እርሱም ወደዚያ ወሰደኝ። አማርኛ