And in the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand broad: The holy district is the sacred area referred to in verse 1. Translators should use the same expression here they did in verse 1, perhaps “the area set aside for me [the LORD].” The Hebrew pronoun for you is singular, referring to Ezekiel. In line with the way Ezekiel’s angelic guide measured the Temple buildings and surroundings in chapters 40–43, God tells Ezekiel to measure out the dimensions of the different parts of the sacred area. This is different from the way they measured the Temple, where the guide measured something that was there and Ezekiel recorded the measurements. Here it is more a matter of Ezekiel marking out the area and so creating the designated area. However, it is unlikely that a literal measuring is meant here. It is more likely that it is simply a way of describing the size of the area of land that will be set aside for the priests. Thus it is acceptable not to mention anything about “measuring” here in a translation (compare Contemporary English Version, which begins verses 3-4 with “I will give half of my sacred land, a section eight miles long and three miles wide, to the priests”). This area is a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand broad, that is, about 12.5 kilometers (8 miles) long and 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide. This is half of the whole area described in verse 1.

In which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place: The Temple compound will be located on this half of the sacred area. The sanctuary does not refer only to the Temple building, but also to the two courtyards surrounding it. The most holy place usually refers to the Temple building or to the inner room of the Temple (see 41.4), but here it should be taken with the sanctuary to refer to the whole Temple compound, as the focal point of the holiness in the land.

A model for this verse is:

• Within that area which is set aside for me [the LORD], you must mark off an area that is 12.5 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide. It is in this area that the Temple, the most holy place of all, will stand.

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 .