Ezekiel 42:5
◄  Ezekiel 42:5  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space away from them than from the lower and middle ones in the building.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
The upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took away more space from them than from the lower and middle stories of the building.

International Standard Version (©2012)
The upper chambers were narrower, since the galleries required more space than did the lower and middle portions of the building.

NET Bible (©2006)
Now the upper chambers were narrower, because the galleries took more space from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The side rooms on the third story were narrower than those on the first or second stories of the building because the corridors took space away from them.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Now the upper chambers were narrower: for the galleries took more space away from these, than from the lower, and the middle chambers of the building.

American King James Version
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

American Standard Version
Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from the lower parts, and from the midst of the building.

Darby Bible Translation
And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building.

English Revised Version
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

World English Bible
Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.

Young's Literal Translation
And the upper chambers are short, for the galleries contain more than these, than the lower, and than the middle one, of the building;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

42:1-20 In this chapter are described the priests' chambers, their use, and the dimensions of the holy mount on which the temple stood. These chambers were many. Jesus said, In my Father's house are many mansions: in his house on earth there are many; multitudes, by faith, are lodging in his sanctuary, and yet there is room. These chambers, though private, were near the temple. Our religious services in our chambers, must prepare for public devotions, and further us in improving them, as our opportunities are.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - The rendering of the Revised Version sufficiently explains this otherwise obscure verse, "Now the upper chambers were shorter," or narrower, "for the galleries took away from these;" literally, did eat of them, "more than from the lower and the middlemest in the building." In other words, the chambers rose in terrace form, each of the upper stories receding from that below it, as was customary in Babylonian architecture.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now the upper chambers were shorter,.... The chambers were in three stories, as in the following verse, one above another; the middlemost were shorter than the lowermost, and the upper shorter than either; just the reverse of the chambers in Ezekiel 41:7, they were not so high from the floor to the ceiling, nor so broad from side to side. The reason follows:

for the galleries were higher than these; or, "ate out of these" (w), "than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building"; the meaning is, that the galleries or balconies in the middlemost and upper chambers were taken, out of them, and so made them lesser than the lower ones, and the upper ones lesser than either; or the posts or pillars, as the word may be rendered, see Ezekiel 42:3, which supported the chambers, took more out of the uppermost than the others, and so made them shorter. This may signify the diversity of gifts and grace, of light and knowledge, and of liberty and comfort, in the churches; and that, as those that are uppermost have most light, they are usually the least, and fewest members in them; who are the few names in Sardis, Revelation 3:4, and are generally more straitened, afflicted, reproached, and persecuted.

(w) Keri, "comedebant ex ipsis", Mariana; "demordebant ab illis", Cocceius, Starckius.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. shorter—that is, the building became narrower as it rose in height. The chambers were many: so "in My Father's house are many mansions" (Joh 14:2); and besides these there was much "room" still left (compare Lu 14:22). The chambers, though private, were near the temple. Prayer in our chambers is to prepare us for public devotions, and to help us in improving them.

Ezekiel 42:5 Parallel Commentaries

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Chambers for the Priests
…4And before the chambers was a walk to ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north. 5Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building. 6For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. …

Ezekiel 41:15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The main hall, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court,
Ezekiel 42:3 Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels.
Ezekiel 42:6 The rooms on the top floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors.