6. The side rooms were arranged one above another in three stories of 30 rooms each. There were ledges on the wall of the temple all around to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be in the temple wall itself.
7. The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple went up by stages. This was the reason for the temple’s broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.
8. I saw that the temple had a raised platform surrounding it; this foundation for the side rooms was 10 1/2 feet high.
9. The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was 8 3/4 feet. The free space between the side rooms of the temple
10. and the outer chambers was 35 feet wide all around the temple.
11. The side rooms opened into the free space, one entrance toward the north and another to the south. The area of free space was 8 3/4 feet wide all around.
12. Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122 1/2 feet wide. The wall of the building was 8 3/4 feet thick on all sides, and the building’s length was 157 1/2 feet.
13. Then the man measured the temple; it was 175 feet long. In addition, the temple yard and the building, including its walls, were 175 feet long.
14. The width of the front of the temple along with the temple yard to the east was 175 feet.
15. Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple yard to the west, with its galleries on each side; it was 175 feet.The interior of the great hall and the porticoes of the court —
16. the thresholds, the beveled windows, and the balconies all around with their three levels opposite the threshold — were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered),
17. reaching to the top of the entrance, and as far as the inner temple and on the outside. On every wall all around, on the inside and outside, was a pattern
18. carved with cherubim and palm trees. There was a palm tree between each pair of cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:
19. a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side, and a lion’s face turned toward it on the other. They were carved throughout the temple on all sides.