1. On April 28, during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity—fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem—the lord took hold of me.
2. In a vision from God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see toward the south what appeared to be a city.
3. As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a linen measuring cord and a measuring rod.
4. He said to me, “Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen.”
5. I could see a wall completely surrounding the Temple area. The man took a measuring rod that was 101/2 feet long and measured the wall, and the wall was 101/2 feet thick and 101/2 feet high.
6. Then he went over to the eastern gateway. He climbed the steps and measured the threshold of the gateway; it was 101/2 feet front to back.
7. There were guard alcoves on each side built into the gateway passage. Each of these alcoves was 101/2 feet square, with a distance between them of 83/4 feet along the passage wall. The gateway’s inner threshold, which led to the entry room at the inner end of the gateway passage, was 101/2 feet front to back.
8. He also measured the entry room of the gateway.
9. It was 14 feet across, with supporting columns 31/2 feet thick. This entry room was at the inner end of the gateway structure, facing toward the Temple.
10. There were three guard alcoves on each side of the gateway passage. Each had the same measurements, and the dividing walls separating them were also identical.
11. The man measured the gateway entrance, which was 171/2 feet wide at the opening and 223/4 feet wide in the gateway passage.
12. In front of each of the guard alcoves was a 21-inch curb. The alcoves themselves were 101/2 feet on each side.
13. Then he measured the entire width of the gateway, measuring the distance between the back walls of facing guard alcoves; this distance was 433/4 feet.
14. He measured the dividing walls all along the inside of the gateway up to the entry room of the gateway; this distance was 105 feet.
15. The full length of the gateway passage was 871/2 feet from one end to the other.
16. There were recessed windows that narrowed inward through the walls of the guard alcoves and their dividing walls. There were also windows in the entry room. The surfaces of the dividing walls were decorated with carved palm trees.
17. Then the man brought me through the gateway into the outer courtyard of the Temple. A stone pavement ran along the walls of the courtyard, and thirty rooms were built against the walls, opening onto the pavement.