The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits: The outside walls of the side rooms were 2.5 meters (8 feet) thick.

And the part of the platform which was left free was five cubits: The part of the platform which was left free is literally “[there was a space] which was unoccupied [on the side] of the structure of the side rooms, which belonged to the house [that is, the Temple]” (similarly Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). This phrase refers to a space, “terrace” (Good News Translation, New King James Version ), “verandah” (Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible) between the outside walls of the side rooms and the edge of the raised platform. Although the Hebrew text here does not mention how wide this space was, the ancient Syriac translation mentions that it was five cubits, that is, 2.5 meters (8 feet), as does the Hebrew at the end of verse 11. There does not seem to have been a wall here, so we do not know what bounded the space—it may have had special paving, or perhaps it was the area under the overhanging side rooms.

Between the platform of the temple and the chambers of the court was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the temple on every side: Between the platform of the temple and the chambers of the court refers to the area of the inner courtyard that was between the edge of the raised platform and the priests’ rooms described in 40.44-46. This area had a breadth of twenty cubits round about the temple on every side, that is, the inner courtyard was 10 meters (34 feet) wide from the edge of the raised platform on the north, west and south sides of the Temple.

A model that combines verses 9-10 is:

• The outer wall of the side rooms was two and a half meters thick. On the raised platform there was a terrace two and a half meters wide all around the side rooms of the Temple. It was ten meters between the edge of the platform and the rooms for the priests.

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 .