The Inner Court and the Tables

²⁸ Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate according to these measurements; ²⁹ with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁰ There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. ³¹ Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts. The ascent to it had eight steps. ³² He brought me into the inner court toward the east. He measured the gate according to these measurements; ³³ with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴ Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁵ He brought me to the north gate, and he measured it according to these measurements— ³⁶ its lodges, its posts, and its arches. There were windows in it all around. The length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. ³⁷ Its posts were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁸ A room with its door was by the posts at the gates. They washed the burnt offering there. ³⁹ In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. ⁴⁰ On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. ⁴¹ Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices. ⁴² There were four cut stone tables for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. They laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them. ⁴³ The hooks, a hand width long, were fastened within all around. The meat of the offering was on the tables. ⁴⁴ Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate. They faced toward the south. One at the side of the east gate faced toward the north. ⁴⁵ He said to me, “This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests who perform the duty of the house. ⁴⁶ The room which faces toward the north is for the priests who perform the duty of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him.” ⁴⁷ He measured the court, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, square. The altar was before the house. ⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side. The width of the gate was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹ The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits, even by the steps by which they went up to it. There were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.