Chambers and promenades
42 Then he led me north to the outer courtyard and brought me into the set of chambers opposite the yard and the structure to the north. 2 The length of the facade at the north entrance was one hundred fifty feet, its depth seventy-five feet. 3 It was next to the twenty chambers that belonged to the inner courtyard and next to the pavement of the outer courtyard, and it had three courses of promenades. 4 In front of the chambers there was a passage fifteen feet wide, and to the inside, a passage eighteen inches wide. The entrance to the chambers was on the north. 5 The upper chambers were smaller, because the promenades took up more space from them than from the first and second stories. 6 This was because the promenades were arranged in three levels, but they didn’t have columns like those in the courtyards. For this reason, the top story was narrower than the first and second stories. 7 A stone wall ran parallel to the chambers facing the outer courtyard. It was seventy-five feet long, 8 the same length, seventy-five feet, as the chambers facing the outer courtyard. Those facing the temple were one hundred fifty feet. 9-10 These chambers were entered from the outer courtyard at the end of the courtyard wall, because the entrance was at the end of the chambers at the east. South of the yard and the building, there were more chambers with a passage 11 in front of them. The design of the chambers resembled the ones to the north in length and width, as well as in all their exits. The arrangement of the entrances 12 to the chambers on the south side was identical as well. One entered from the east at the beginning of the corresponding wall.
13 Then he said to me, “The north and south chambers that face the building and the yard are the holy chambers where the priests eat the offerings that have been brought to the Lord. They are most holy. Here they will place the most holy things, the grain offering, the purification offering, and the compensation offering. The place is holy. 14 When the priests enter, they won’t go out of the sanctuary to the outer courtyard. There they will place the priestly vests that they wore when they were ministering, because these garments are also holy. They will put on other garments when they go out to the people’s area.”
15 When he finished making the interior measurements of the temple, he led me out toward the east gate, and he measured all the way around. 16 He used the same measuring rod on all four sides. He measured the east side, seven hundred fifty feet; 17 the north side, seven hundred fifty feet; and 18 the south side, seven hundred fifty feet. 19 He turned to the west side, seven hundred fifty feet. 20 On all four sides he measured the wall all the way around. Its length was seven hundred fifty feet, and its width seven hundred fifty feet. So he made a division between the holy and the ordinary.