Revised Standard Version splits this verse into two parts, the first part going with verse 16 and second part going with verse 18. However, the Hebrew makes much better sense if the verse is read as one sentence as follows:

On [the wall] above the entrance, and on the [whole] Temple, inside and out, and on all the walls all around, both inside and outside, were measures [that is, decorated patterns at regular intervals].

To the space above the door is literally “Upon what [was] above the opening,” which refers to the part of the wall that was above the opening of the doorway. What was on that part of the wall is only revealed at the end of the verse.

The inner room, and on the outside: Revised Standard Version wrongly refers to inside and outside the Most Holy Place here. The Hebrew expression here actually refers to the whole Temple building, both inside and outside.

And on all the walls round about in the inner room and the nave is literally “and on every wall all round in the inner [part] and in the outer [part],” which refers to all the walls of the Temple building. Revised Standard Version again misunderstands the Hebrew here to refer to the two rooms inside the building. The Hebrew has no words here for inner room and nave.

Were carved likenesses is an attempt to make sense of the difficult Hebrew text here, which is literally “[were] measures” (New Revised Standard Version footnote). The Hebrew can be understood to refer to a carefully worked and precisely “measured pattern” (English Standard Version; similarly New Revised Standard Version, Complete Jewish Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). It was this “pattern” that was on the wall above the door and on all the walls of the Temple, both inside and outside. Although the inside walls were decorated with this “pattern” on wood panels, we do not know whether the outside “pattern” was on such panels too, or directly on the stonework of the walls. It was probably the latter. An alternative interpretation of “measures” is “at regular intervals” (so New International Version with .”.. and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary 18 were carved cherubim and palm trees”). This may be the meaning of “by measurement” in New American Standard Bible (similarly King James Version / New King James Version), but this rendering is so obscure that it is almost meaningless. “A measured pattern” (English Standard Version) is a very good way of expressing the same idea.

A model for this verse is:

• On the wall above the entrance, in fact on the [whole] Temple, inside and out, on all the walls all around, both inside and outside, was a regular pattern.

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 .