Then he brought me …: Ezekiel’s angelic guide reappears at this point (see 40.3). The last time he was mentioned was in 44.4, when he led Ezekiel from the outer courtyard through the north gateway into the inner courtyard. There they stood in front of the Temple building, that is, on the eastern side of the Temple. We may presume that Ezekiel and his guide remained in the inner courtyard up to this point. If necessary, translators may make this explicit. For he brought me, see 40.17.

The angelic guide led Ezekiel through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests. This entrance was probably the entrance to the walkway by the screening wall that was described in 42.7-10a. In order to go into that entrance, they had to go out into the outer courtyard, and the entrance was not far from the side of the inner courtyard’s north gate. The walkway was in front of the north row of the holy chambers for the priests. These were the priests’ rooms described in 42.1-14. To the north row indicates that Ezekiel and his guide went out the north gate and turned immediately right to go into the entrance of the walkway. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have them inside the inner courtyard and on the southern side of the courtyard, so they should not be followed. A good model for the first sentence of this verse is:

• Then the man led me through the entrance [of the walkway], which was at the side of the [north] gateway, to the priests’ holy rooms that face north.

And there I saw a place at the extreme western end of them: And there I saw a place is literally “and, behold, there was a place” (King James Version), which is a vivid phrase expressing surprise. Ezekiel does not describe the place he saw until the next verse, but it was at the extreme western end of them, that is, at the end of the walkway up against the western wall of the Temple compound.

The pronoun them refers to the priests’ rooms. This clause may be expressed as “And I saw a place [or, And there he showed me a place] at the western end of the rooms.”

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 .