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Ezekiel 40:11

in Ezekiel 40

And he measured the width of the gateway entrance to be ten cubits, and its length was thirteen cubits.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits;

KJV

And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

This verse in Ezekiel 40

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

climbed its steps

on Ezekiel 40:6-16

At the gate facing east, threshold, gate chambers, portico, jambs and gateposts are measured in order, with palm trees on every side pillar. The tour starts in the east, the direction by which the glory left at 11:23 and returns through the eastern gate at 43:4.

This site's exposition

ten cubits

In long cubits the entrance was about seventeen feet wide. Interpreters differ over what the thirteen cubits measure, whether the depth of the doorway or the covered length of the passage. Ezekiel 46:9 later sends festival crowds through these gates.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 5 and following) And behold, there was a wall surrounding the house on all sides, and in the hand of the man was a measuring reed of six cubits and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the building with the reed, one reed wide, and the height with the reed, one reed high. And he came to the gate that faced the eastern road, and he went up its steps, and he measured the threshold of the gate with the reed, one reed wide, that is, one reed wide, and the vestibule one reed long, and one reed wide, and between the vestibules five cubits, and the threshold of the gate next to the entrance of the gate inside, one reed wide. And the vestibule of the gate was eight cubits, and the front of it two cubits: but the gate itself was inward. And the chambers of the gate towards the east, three on this side, and three on that side; they measured one against another: and the fronts of the gate on both sides were of one measure. And he measured the length of the porch of the gate, ten cubits: and the breadth of the gate, thirteen cubits. And there was also a space before the chambers, one cubit on this side, and one cubit on that side: and the chambers six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. And he measured the gate from the roof of the chamber to its roof, a width of twenty-five cubits, door against door. Seventy: And behold, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits and a handbreadth. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then he went inside the gateway which faced toward the east, went up its stairs and measured the threshold of the gateway, which was one reed wide, and the other threshold was one reed wide. Each gate chamber was one reed long and one reed wide; between the gate chambers were five cubits. […]

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 2, Homily 4 · Written before 604.

proposed

And he measured the width of the threshold of the gate as ten cubits, and the length of the gate as thirteen cubits. We have already said much above about the meaning of the gate, but we ought to hold to one thing through which the prudence of the reader can also penetrate the rest. Indeed it was said that Sacred Scripture can be figured through the gate. But we must now laboriously discuss why the width of the threshold of the gate is measured at ten cubits, and the length of the gate at thirteen.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

the width of the entrance of the gate The width of the span of the entrance, and so we learned (Mid.:3): All the entrances..were ten cubits wide.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 40:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And a border [area] was before the cells of one cubit, etc. The cells on either side of the gate were inset [away] from being in line with the area of the inward-going hall, a cubit to the north and a cubit to the south.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 40:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּ֛מָדand he measured

    vaiyamodH4058 →51 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • רֹ֥חַב[the] breadth of

    rochavH7341 →101 times

  • פֶּֽתַח־[the] entrance of

    petach-H6607 →164 times

  • הַשַּׁ֖עַרthe gate

    hashaarH8179 →374 times

  • עֶ֣שֶׂרten

    ʾeserH6235 →176 times

  • אַמּ֑וֹתcubits

    ʾamotH520 →247 times

  • אֹ֣רֶךְ[the] length of

    ʾorekhH753 →95 times

  • הַשַּׁ֔עַרthe gate

    hashaarH8179 →374 times

  • שְׁל֥וֹשׁthir-

    shelooshH7969 →432 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֖הteen

    ʾesrehH6240 →338 times

  • אַמּֽוֹת׃cubits

    ʾamotH520 →247 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Gregory the Dialogist, Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 2, Homily 4; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.