Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, I saw the Lord's hand upon me and brought me to that place.

The Lord led me into the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain where there was something like the framework of a city to the south. He brought me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like polished bronze. This man had a measuring cord made of flax in his hand and a measuring rod; he stood at the gate.

The man said to me, "Son of man, pay close attention with your eyes and ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here." Behold, a wall on the outside of the house was all around. In the man's hand was a measuring reed six cubits long, with each cubit and handbreadth. He measured the building's thickness as one reed and its height as one reed.

Then he came to the gate facing east and went up its stairs, measuring the threshold of the gate, which was one reed wide on each side. Every little chamber was one reed long and one reed broad, with five cubits between them. The threshold of the gate by the porch within was one reed.

He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed, and the porch of the gate eight cubits wide, with its posts two cubits deep. The porch extended inward. The little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side and three on that side; they had one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

The breadth of the entry of the gate was ten cubits, and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. The space before the little chambers was one cubit on this side and one cubit on that side, with the little chambers six cubits wide on both sides.

He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was twenty-five cubits, door against door. He made also posts of sixty cubits, extending to the posts of the court around the gate. From the face of the gate of the entrance to the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.

There were narrow windows to the little chambers and to their posts within the gate on all sides. There were similar windows in the arches; and there were windows all around inside, with palm trees carved into each post.

Then he brought me into the outer court, where there were chambers and a pavement surrounding the courtyard with thirty rooms on it. The pavement alongside the gates, extending along their length, was the lower pavement. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the inner court without, one hundred cubits eastward and northward.

The gate of the outer court that looked toward the north, he measured its length and breadth. The little chambers were three on this side and three on that side; with posts and arches matching those of the first gate; each was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

Their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that faces east; they ascended to it by seven steps, with the arches positioned in front. The gate of the inner court faced north and east, with a hundred cubits measured from one gate to the other.

After that, he brought me toward the south and showed me a gate facing south; he measured its posts and arches according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits.

And there were seven steps to ascend it, with arches before them, and palm trees on either side of its posts. There was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from that gate to the corresponding gate on the opposite side of the court an hundred cubits.

He brought me to the inner court by the south gate and measured the south gate according to these measures. The little chambers, along with their posts and arches, were constructed according to these measurements; there were windows in them and around the arches on all sides, and it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

The arches around it were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad. The arches of it were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts thereof; and the going up to it had eight steps. He brought me into the inner court toward the east and measured the gate according to these measures.

The little chambers, posts, and arches were according to these measures: with windows in them and around the arches; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. The arches of the structure faced outward toward the outer court, with palm trees on either side of its posts, and it had eight steps leading up to it.

He brought me to the north gate and measured it according to these measures. The little chambers, their posts, and the arches, along with windows all around it, measured fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in breadth. And the pillars of it faced the outer courtyard, with palm trees on them on both sides; and there were eight steps leading up to it.

And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt offering. In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side to slay thereon the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.

At the side of the north gate were two tables, and at the porch of the gate, opposite them, were two more tables. Four tables were on this side of the gate and four tables on that side, with eight in total where they slaughtered their sacrifices.

The four tables were of hewn stone, each measuring a cubit and an half in length and breadth, and one cubit in height, where they laid the instruments used to slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices. Within were hooks, one handbreadth wide, fixed all around; and on the tables lay the flesh of the offering.

And outside the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was a square, 100 cubits long and wide, with an altar in front of the temple. He brought me to the porch of the house and measured each post, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; the gate was three cubits wide on both sides.

The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and its breadth eleven cubits, with pillars beside the posts, one on each side.