Then he went into the gateway facing east: Next Ezekiel’s guide entered the east gatehouse that provided access to the Temple area. This was presumably the same gateway where Ezekiel first saw the man standing (see Ezek 40.3), and he now identifies it as the one facing east, that is, the direction where the sun rises.
Going up its steps: The east gatehouse was obviously higher than the surrounding land and there were steps (“stairs” in King James Version) leading up to it. There is no mention here of how many steps there were, but from the information given later about the north and south gates, it is likely that there were seven steps (see verses 22 and 26). It is best not to include the number of steps unless the language demands it.
And measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep: The Hebrew word for threshold usually refers to a plank or stone that lies under a door; it is sometimes called a “sill.” Here it refers to the doorway of the gatehouse, the gap in the wall where the gateway starts. New Century Version renders the threshold of the gate as “the opening of the gateway,” and Good News Translation has simply “the entrance.” Another possible model is “the entryway [or, doorway] to the entry house.” Such a doorway is usually the same width as the wall, and so, like the wall in verse 5, the doorway was one reed deep, that is, 6 cubits, which is equivalent to about 3 meters or 10 feet. Because this doorway was so big, some languages may need to call it a room; for example, Moffatt renders the threshold of the gate as “the outer lobby.”
Where was Ezekiel while the man was measuring east gatehouse (verses 6-16)? We are not told, and in a vision such details may not be important. He may have been watching from the outside, still standing where God had put him down, or he may have moved closer to the gateway where the man had been standing (see Ezek 40.3). A third possibility is that Ezekiel went with the man up the steps and into the gatehouse. Later in this chapter, it is made clear that the man brought Ezekiel with him as he measured the other buildings of the Temple compound, but not here. If it was also the case here, many languages will need to use the first person dual (we-two) to show that Ezekiel was going with the man.
As the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation show, the Hebrew has some extra words at the end of this verse, which read literally “and one threshold, one reed deep.” Most translations, including the Septuagint, omit these words, or they put them in a footnote. But Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that they be included by rendering them “and the first threshold one reed
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 .