Read & explore together
Outside the Temple
Ezekiel 41:5–14 describes the outside parts of the temple area with careful measurements. The passage focuses on side rooms, open spaces, another building, and the overall size, showing a layout that is deliberate and clearly ordered.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In these verses, the measuring continues around the house. The text names the wall, side rooms in three levels, a raised base, open areas, a western building, and the dimensions of the temple and separate place. It teaches by measured description rather than by story.
Ezekiel 41:5–14Main takeaway
This passage presents the temple complex as carefully measured, with each surrounding space set in its proper place.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Wall and side roomsThe measuring begins with the house wall and the side rooms around it. The wall is six cubits thick, and each side room is four cubits wide.
Explanation
The measuring begins with the house wall and the side rooms around it. The wall is six cubits thick, and each side room is four cubits wide. The repeated phrase about being all around the house shows these rooms were arranged in an ordered ring around the main structure.
02Three levels with supportThe side rooms are in three storeys, with thirty rooms in each storey. They are supported by the wall that belonged to the house, yet they do not penetrate the house wall.
Explanation
The side rooms are in three storeys, with thirty rooms in each storey. They are supported by the wall that belonged to the house, yet they do not penetrate the house wall. The text shows both closeness to the house and a clear structural distinction between the rooms and the house itself.
03Wider upward and space aroundHigher rooms are wider because the walls become narrower at the upper levels. The passage also mentions movement from the lowest level upward through the middle level.
Explanation
Higher rooms are wider because the walls become narrower at the upper levels. The passage also mentions movement from the lowest level upward through the middle level. Around the house is a raised base, with foundations a full reed of six great cubits, plus open space, doors, and room between structures.
04The wider complex measuredThe text then measures a building toward the west, including its width, wall thickness, and length.
Explanation
The text then measures a building toward the west, including its width, wall thickness, and length. After that, it gives overall dimensions: the temple is one hundred cubits long, the separate place with the building and walls is one hundred cubits long, and the eastern width is one hundred cubits.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What shows that the side rooms depended on the house wall without becoming part of it?
Notice the rooms were supported by the wall belonging to the house, but did not penetrate that wall.
02Why were the upper side rooms wider?
The passage connects the wider upper rooms with the walls becoming narrower at the higher levels.
03Which surrounding spaces are measured along with the temple?
Look for the side rooms, open area, separate place, and the building toward the west.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 41:5–14
5Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.
6The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house.
7The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.
8I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.
9The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.
10Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.
12The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
13So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
14also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.