Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others; and there were windows round about in it and in its vestibule: In order to show that the south gatehouse to the inner courtyard was identical in size to the outer gatehouses, Ezekiel lists some of its details, namely, its side rooms (that is, the small rooms on each side of the passageway of the gatehouse [see Ezek 40.7]), its jambs (that is, the doorframes and intervening walls [see verses 9-10]), its vestibule (that is, the porch [see Ezek 40.7]), and the windows (that is, the niches in the walls [see verse 16]). Translators should be careful to make it clear that the pronouns it and its refer to the gatehouse, and not some other part of the building.

Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits: Ezekiel even records the total dimensions of this gatehouse to confirm that it was the same size as the outer ones (see verses 13 and 15). It was 25 meters (84 feet) long and 12.5 meters (42 feet) wide.

And there were vestibules round about, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad: Verse 30 refers to vestibules round about. It is by no means clear where these vestibules were, but they may have been narrow verandas on the inside of the wall of the inner courtyard. If there was no wall around the inner courtyard (Ezekiel does not mention one), these vestibules may have consisted of a veranda or covered walkway that formed the boundary between the outer and inner courtyards. They were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad, that is, 12.5 meters (42 feet) long and 2.5 meters (8 feet) wide, so they did not have the same dimensions as the porches of the gatehouses (see Ezek 40.8).

Many translations omit verse 30 (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch); it is also missing from the Septuagint and some Hebrew manuscripts. Some scholars think that a scribe must have included it by mistake, because it is almost identical to the last half of the previous verse. But as long as we can make sense of the verse, it is better to keep it in, as Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .