1Then he brought me forth into the outer court , the way toward the north : and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place , and which was over against the building toward the north . 2Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door , and the breadth was fifty cubits. 3Over against the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court , and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court , was gallery against gallery in the third story. 4And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits’ breadth inward , a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north . 5Now the upper chambers were shorter ; for the galleries took away from these , more than from the lower and the middlemost , in the building . 6For they were in three stories, and they had not pillars as the pillars of the courts : therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. 7And the wall that was without by the side of the chambers , toward the outer court before the chambers , the length thereof was fifty cubits. 8For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and , lo , before the temple were a hundred cubits. 9And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side , as one goeth into them from the outer court .
The Chambers for the Priests
10In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east , before the separate place , and before the building , there were chambers . 11And the way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north ; according to their length so was their breadth : and all their egresses were both according to their fashions , and according to their doors . 12And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way , even the way directly before the wall toward the east , as one entereth into them . 13Then said he unto me , The north chambers and the south chambers , which are before the separate place , they are the holy chambers , where the priests that are near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things : there shall they lay the most holy things , and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy . 14When the priests enter in , then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court , but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister ; for they are holy : and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertaineth to the people .
The Overall Structure and Purpose
15Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house , he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east , and measured it round about . 16He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds , with the measuring reed round about . 17He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about . 18He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed . 19He turned about to the west side , and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed . 20He measured it on the four sides : it had a wall round about , the length five hundred , and the breadth five hundred , to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common .