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Ezekiel 42:3

Old Testament Major Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Ezekiel 42:3 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Over 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.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Over 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.
Ezekiel 42:3 — American Standard Version

Context — Ezekiel 42

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
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.
← Ezekiel 42:2Ezekiel 42:4 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, &c.] Starckius thinks that the breadth of the chambers being fifty cubits, is here parted, and disposed of, and accounted for. The chambers were in two rows over against each other; that row which looked to the south, and so to the temple, was twenty cubits broad; and because it led to the temple, its court is called the inner court: and over against the pavement which was for the utter court: or that row which was over against the pavement of the outward court, to the north, was also twenty cubits broad, which make forty; and the walk of ten cubits between them, (<264204>Ezekiel 42:4), account for the breadth of the fifty…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“These “chambers” (compare Ezekiel 46:19) did not reach to the western wall; between it and them lay a court for cooking (M), probably forty cubits by thirty; such court with its approaches filled up the corner of fifty cubits square, as in the case of the kitchen-courts for the people. In these chambers were dining-rooms for the priests (see Ezekiel 42:13), and baths, for no priest could enter upon his daily ministry without having first bathed. “The chambers” extended beyond “the separate place” to the wall of the temple-court, on the other side of which wall was the twenty cubits space. The “pavement” (H) was no doubt continued along the temple-wall, so that these priests’ chambers, like…”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“Against gallery - That is, a gallery on the south part toward the inner court, and a gallery toward the pavement north - ward, and between the backs of these galleries were chambers. Ezekiel 42:4”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“42:3-12 The rooms for the priests at the sides of the building to the rear of the sanctuary were three levels high so that the priests could enter at the top from the inner court (42:12) and emerge at the bottom in the outer court (42:9). These rooms were boundary spaces for activities that the priests had to perform on the way into and out of the inner court.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“Over: One side of these buildings looked upon the void space about the temple of twenty cubits, and the other toward the pavement belonging to the outer court. the twenty: Eze 41:10 the pavement: Eze 40:17, Eze 40:18; Ch2 7:3 gallery against: Eze 41:15, Eze 41:16; Sol 1:17, Sol 7:5 Ezekiel 42:4”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification