The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the breadth twelve cubits: The man continued to measure the Temple building. Its porch was twenty cubits, that is, 10 meters (34 feet), wide and twelve cubits, that is, 6 meters (20 feet), from front to back. As the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation show, the Hebrew reads “eleven cubits” (New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly New Living Translation, Complete Jewish Bible, Moffatt) instead of twelve cubits. The number twelve comes from the Septuagint. Despite the recommendation of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project to retain “eleven,” it is necessary to follow the Septuagint to fit the rest of the dimensions of the Temple.

And ten steps led up to it: The number ten comes from the Septuagint (see the Revised Standard Version footnote). The Hebrew for this clause reads literally “and [it was] by the steps that they went up to it” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This clause in Hebrew means the priests went up to the doorway of the Temple by means of a staircase, but it does not say how many steps there were or how high the staircase was. This is a possible interpretation of the Hebrew text, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators follow the Septuagint in this instance. The reading in the Septuagint gives the more straightforward meaning in this context, and it does not involve any change to the consonants of the Hebrew text. It is only necessary to change some of the vowels that Jewish scholars later inserted into the text to help people as they read the text.

And there were pillars beside the jambs on either side: There were two pillars or “columns” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Complete Jewish Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) by the entrance of the Temple, one by each doorframe. These pillars were probably very similar to the two pillars that were in front of Solomon’s Temple (see 1 Kgs 7.15-22), but no one knows exactly what they looked like or what their function was. Here their dimensions are not even given. So they may have stood outside the doorway or in the doorway itself, or they may have even been part of the actual doorframes. Translators will need to choose whichever configuration makes most sense to them.

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 .