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Ezekiel 42:5

in Ezekiel 42

Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space from the chambers on the lower and middle floors of the building.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.

KJV

Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

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This verse in Ezekiel 42

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
Now the upper chambers were shorter,.... The chambers were in three stories, as in the following verse, one above another; the middlemost were shorter than the lowermost, and the upper shorter than either; just the reverse of the chambers in Eze 41:7, they were not so high from the floor to the ceiling, nor so broad from side to side.

This site's exposition

northward into the outer court

on Ezekiel 42:1-8

The guide brings the prophet to the chambers opposite the courtyard, where gallery faced gallery, the upper chambers smaller because the galleries took more space. An inner walkway ten cubits wide ran before the doors. The measurements stand as the text gives them, a hundred cubits and fifty.

This site's exposition

the upper chambers were smaller

Albert Barnes explains that the building rose in terraces, as Babylonian buildings did, each story set back from the one below. John Gill notes the reverse of 41:7. There the side rooms grew wider going up, and here the chambers grow smaller.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

"Where the treasuries were lower on the upper levels because the porticoes that protruded from the lower and middle parts of the building supported them. These porticoes were narrow and did not have columns like the columns of the courtyards, so they protruded from the lower and middle parts of the building by fifty cubits." It follows: And their doors to the north, where the treasuries were in the lower and middle parts: because the porticoes which stood out from the lower and middle parts of the building supported them.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Shorter - At first view it should seem to refer to the length, but indeed it refers to the height of the chambers, of which the lowest chamber was highest, the second lower pitched than the first, yet of greater height than the uppermost between the floor and ceiling.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

There were many, that there might be conveniences for all such devout people as Anna the prophetess, who departed not from the temple night or day, Luke ii. In my Father's house are many mansions. In his house on earth there are so; multitudes by faith have taken lodgings in his sanctuary, and yet there is room.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Render: “And the upper chambers were” shortened, for galleries took off from them, from “the lower” and from “the middle-most, chambers, of the building.” The building rose in terraces, as was usual in Babylonian architecture, and so each of the two upper stories receded from the one below it.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The chambers were many: so "in My Father's house are many mansions" (Joh 14:2); and besides these there was much "room" still left (compare Lu 14:22). The chambers, though private, were near the temple. Prayer in our chambers is to prepare us for public devotions, and to help us in improving them.

The words behind it

10 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.

  • וְהַלְּשָׁכ֥וֹתand the rooms

    vehaleshakhotH3957 →47 times

  • הָעֶלְיוֹנֹ֖ת<the> upper

    haelyonotH5945 →53 times

  • קְצֻר֑וֹת[were] short

    ketzurotH7114 →

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יוֹכְל֨וּthey consumed

    yokhluH398 →810 times

  • אַתִּיקִ֜יםgalleries

    ʾatikimH862 →5 times

  • מֵהֵ֗נָהfrom them

    mehenah

  • מֵֽהַתַּחְתֹּנ֛וֹתmore than the lower [rooms]

    mehatachtonotH8481 →13 times

  • וּמֵהַתִּֽכֹנ֖וֹתand more than the middle [rooms]

    umehatikhonotH8484 →11 times

  • בִּנְיָֽן׃[the] structure

    binyanH1146 →7 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 41:7The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.2 worksEzekiel 40:7Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubits between the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep.2 worksEzekiel 41:15Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary, and the porticoes facing the court,2 worksEzekiel 42:3Gallery faced gallery in three levels opposite the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court.2 works

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 41:7

    The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 6:8

      The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

    • Matthew 13:32

      Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

    • Hebrews 6:1

      Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God,

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.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 42 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

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