Ezekiel 42


Ezekiel 42 is the forty-second chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet/priest Ezekiel, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. The Jerusalem Bible refers to the final section of Ezekiel, chapters 40-48, as "the Torah of Ezekiel": "a blueprint for the religious and political rehabilitation of the Israelite nation in Palestine". These chapters provide the ideal picture of a new temple: chapter 42 contains Ezekiel's vision of the outbuildings or chambers for the priests, the use of the chambers, and the dimensions of the outer court.

Text

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 20 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

The priests' rooms (verses 1–14)

This part record the details of the rooms of chambers facing the free space reserved for the priests and the building on the west side of the temple ; the text is difficult to interpret. The exposition starts from the north rooms, apparently in 3 parallel blocks, each set in incremental height on the slope between the outer court and temple yard, with the rooms nearest to the temple twice in size of those closer to the outer court, with the priests' kitchen at the western end.

Verse 1

  • The vision was given on the 25th anniversary of Ezekiel's exile, "April 28, 573 BCE"; 14 years after the fall of Jerusalem and 12 years after the last messages of hope in chapter 39. Plans for "the chambers all around" had also been included in the designs for the first temple which King David had provided for his son Solomon.

    Verse 2

  • "Cubit" here is a "long cubit" or "royal cubit", about, as defined in Ezekiel 40:5.

    Verse 13

Cross reference: ; ; ; ;
  • The vestibules of the inner gates are sanctified for the preparation of the offerings: "burnt, sin and guilt offerings".
The rooms have three main purposes: where the priests eat, where the priests store offerings in excess of the immediate requirements, and where the priests robe themselves for service of the altar.

The overall dimensions (verses 15–20)

This section resumes the original vision from, as Ezekiel follows the angel measuring the outer wall of the temple area, which, according to verse 20, is the boundary of the sacred area.

Jewish

*

  • Christian

42