Then he measured the length of the building facing the yard which was at the west and its walls on either side, a hundred cubits: Next the man measured the length of the west building described in verse 12 (see the comments there) from north to south. Including its walls on either side, which were each 5 cubits (2.5 meters) thick, the distance was a hundred cubits, that is, 50 meters (168 feet). The yard refers to the separating area between the west building and the back of the Temple. At the west simply indicates where the building was.

Instead of walls, the Hebrew text has a word whose meaning is unknown (see Revised Standard Version footnote. This word appears only here and in verse 16, and in chapter 42, verses 3 and 5. It seems to refer to “galleries” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), “ledges” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “balconies” (Block). Here they appear on the outside walls of the west building, and in verse 16 they are inside the main room of the Temple. In both cases they seem to be attached to the walls, or they could be holes sunk into the walls, but we have no idea what they were used for. Whatever they were, they did not affect the measurements that Ezekiel recorded earlier. It seems most likely that they referred to narrow ledges of some sort, perhaps for decoration. In chapter 42 they appear to refer to something different (see the comments on 42.3).

A model for the first half of verse 15 is:

• Then he measured the building that was west of the open area. It was fifty meters long, including its ledges [or, balconies].

The nave of the temple and the inner room and the outer vestibule …: This phrase begins a description of the decorations on the inside of the Temple. However, there are several textual problems here. Many translations agree with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in understanding that Ezekiel is describing three areas in this subsection, namely, The nave, that is, the large main room of the Temple (see Ezek 41.1), the inner room, that is, “the Most Holy Place” (Good News Translation; see Ezek 41.3), and the outer vestibule, that is, the front porch of the Temple (so New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Moffatt). But the Hebrew only refers to two areas, namely, “The inside of the nave and the vestibules of the court” (English Standard Version; similarly King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), that is, the inside walls of the Temple’s large main room and inside walls of the inner courtyard’s gatehouse porches. It is surprising that Ezekiel should describe the porches of these three gatehouses at this point in his tour of the Temple, so some scholars and translations have followed the Septuagint, which has the singular word “vestibule,” that is, just the porch of the Temple itself. This involves a small change to the Hebrew text, but it makes far better sense, namely, “the vestibule of the court” means “the Temple’s porch that opens on to the courtyard.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows this reading by rendering verse 15b as “Both the great hall inside and the portico next to the court” (similarly Christian Community Bible), and so does Contemporary English Version with “The inside walls of the temple’s porch and main room.” We recommend that translators follow this reading since it makes more sense (see the model below). In verses 15b-16 Ezekiel does not attempt to describe the decorations on the walls of the Most Holy Place. He only refers to the inside walls of the Temple’s large main room and its front porch.

Were paneled and round about all three had windows with recessed frames: Revised Standard Version bears very little resemblance to the Hebrew here, which is literally “the thresholds and the closed windows [or, niches] and the ledges all around for the three of them.” Along with Good News Translation and many other translations, Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint by changing the first Hebrew word here to read were paneled, that is, were covered with thin sheets of wood to make a nice surface. However, the Hebrew text has “the thresholds” (New International Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), that is, the doorways in the Temple. Revised Standard Version renders the next two Hebrew words as windows with recessed frames. These are the niches in the walls, first described in 40.16 (see the comments there). Revised Standard Version ignores the next Hebrew word and renders the following two words as round about all three. The word that Revised Standard Version leaves out is the same word that may refer to “ledges” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) of some sort in verse 15a (see the comments there). Here inside the main room and the porch of the Temple, the “ledges” were probably decorative. They went round about, that is, right around the walls of the rooms, probably fairly high up the walls. The next Hebrew word rendered all three may mean that there were three decorative “ledges” on the walls, that the “ledges” went around the walls on three sides of the rooms (presumably not on the side where the door was), or that the “ledges” went around all three of the rooms (see the comments on verse 15b concerning how many rooms Ezekiel is describing). Unfortunately, the scene Ezekiel describes is so obscure that it is impossible to be sure about any of this, so translators may choose whichever of the above suggestions makes the most sense to them.

Over against the threshold the temple was paneled with wood round about, from the floor up to the windows: This clause does little to make the scene any clearer. The Hebrew phrase rendered Over against the threshold may mean “in front of the doorway” or “opposite the doorway.” Many translations as far back as the Septuagint omit this phrase, but it can be understood if we imagine Ezekiel standing in the doorway and telling us what he sees, namely, the walls across the room, that is, “opposite the threshold” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version). This phrase may refer only to the wall on the other side of the room, or to all the walls he can see. Since the opposite wall of the main room of the Temple also had a doorway (into the Most Holy Place), it is most likely that this phrase refers to the side walls as well. The temple refers to the large main room of the Temple, not the whole building. All these rooms and features that are listed in verses 15b-16a were paneled with wood round about, that is, covered with thin sheets of wood as decoration. From the floor up to the windows means the walls from floor level up to the height of the niches were also paneled. The Hebrew text does not have the word from, but most scholars and translations follow the Septuagint by adding it.

(Now the windows were covered) is literally “and the covered niches [or, windows].” Revised Standard Version regards this phrase as an aside, a parenthetical comment, but it is better to understand that some of the niches were covered, that is, they had doors or curtains that could be closed to conceal what was in them. So “and the closed niches” is just the next item in the list of things that were paneled with wood.

A model for verses 15b-16 is:

• The inside [walls] of the [Temple’s] main room and porch, 16 the doorways, the niches and the three [decorative] ledges that went right around [the walls of these rooms], [the walls] opposite the doorway and from the floor up to the niches, and the closed niches, [all these] were paneled with wood all around.

Were paneled is a passive verb, and in languages that require an agent, translators may change the above model slightly by saying “People had put wood panels on the inside walls of the … closed niches.”

It is possible that the phrase Over against the threshold refers to the ledges on the walls of the rooms, not the walls themselves. Thus, looking at the room from the doorway, Ezekiel describes the three decorative ledges that went right around the walls opposite the doorway, that is, on the three walls visible from the doorway. This interpretation changes the above model as follows: .”.. and the three [decorative] ledges that went right around [the walls] opposite the doorway….” Although this interpretation makes very good sense, the accents inserted by the Masoretic scribes in the Hebrew text make it less likely than the previous model.

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 .