Ezekiel 41:8

8. I saw also] An uncommon form; usually it is said, and there appeared, which LXX. probably read here[13]. For “height” (gobah) probably “raised pavement” (gabbah, Gabbatha, Joh_19:13) should be read (cf. footnote)—and the house appeared as having a raised pavement round about, lit. there appeared (belonging) to the house &c., cf. ch. Eze_10:8. All that was seen of the platform was the passage of 5 cubits round about the building (Eze_41:11). “House” includes both the temple proper and the side-chambers. This is supplemented by saying that the foundations of the side-chambers were 6 cubits high—of course house and side-chambers were on the same level.

[13] The curious word in LXX. καὶ τὸ θραὲλ appears a transliteration of this reading with following prep. l attached, ותרא ל (fem. apoc. Impf. niph.); cf. for form and construction ch. Eze_10:8; and for short final vowel the spelling Abimael, Gen_10:28. Therefore a fem. noun should be read as subj. (gabbah).

six great cubits] as R.V., marg., six cubits to the joint, or angle, i.e. probably to the point where the vertical line of the height of the platform cut the level of the court. The words cannot be a description of the kind of cubit, nor, since the foundations are being described, can there be any reference to the height within of the side-chambers or to the point of junction of one story with another.

8–11. The raised platform upon which the house and the side-chambers stood

The house and the annexe stood on a platform raised a full reed, or 6 cubits above the level of the inner court (Eze_41:8). The platform was reached in front of the house by a flight of so steps (Eze_40:49) from the court. The outside wall of the annexe was 5 cubits thick (Eze_41:9). A space of 5 cubits of the platform remained unoccupied by the buildings (Eze_41:11), Fig. 2, E. Then came a free space of 20 cubits running round the platform (Eze_41:10), Fig. 3, H. Finally came other buildings in the inner court, one behind the house on the W. (Eze_41:15), Fig. 3, K; and others on both sides of it, N. and S. (Eze_42:1 seq.), Fig. 3, GG´.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 41:8 I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers [were] a full reed of six great cubits.

Ver. 8. The foundations.] Plus rei quam ostentationis habebant, {a} The good soul rather seeks to be good, than seems to be so.

{a} Oecolamp.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

foundations . . . six . . . cubits--the substructure, on which the foundations rested, was a full reed of six cubits.

great--literally, "to the extremity" or root, namely, of the hand [HENDERSON]. "To the joining," or point, where the foundation of one chamber ceased and another began [FAIRBAIRN].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(8) I saw also the height of the house.—This does not mean the height of the house itself, which is nowhere stated. The words are, literally, I saw for the house a height (i.e., an elevation) round about, and the meaning of this is explained in what follows. The Temple, as has been already said (Eze_40:49), was entered by a flight of steps leading up to the porch, and was therefore on a higher level than the court. We are now told that the side chambers had a foundation of six cubits. Whether this “foundation” of the Temple and the side chambers was built of masonry, or, as is more probable, was a sort of basement to contain cisterns and storage rooms, we are not told; but it probably extended, under the name of “the place that was left” (Eze_41:9; Eze_41:11), five cubits beyond the outer wall of the chambers, forming a platform from which they were entered.

Six great cubits.—Literally, six cubits to the joint, or to the armpit, for the word has both significations. It is plain that a cubit of a different length, measured to the armpit, cannot be intended, both because no such cubit is known to have been in use at any time, and because Ezekiel in Eze_40:5 has already fixed the length of the cubit he uses. The sense of joint is therefore to be taken, and this applied architecturally can only mean the point at which one part of the building joins another; here, the point where the superstructure meets the foundation, or, as we should say, “six cubits to the water-table.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I saw also the height of the house round about,.... Not of the temple itself, but of the chambers, and the three stories of them, which went round about it; and particularly the height of the highest storey, which yet is not given: it could not be so high as the temple itself; for then there would have been no room for windows to let in light into it:

the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits; not of the lowest storey of them, for that was but four cubits broad, Eze 41:5, nor of the middlemost, which was five; but of the uppermost, which was six; and these were cubits of the largest size, a hand's breadth larger than the common cubit, and made one full reed, or three yards and a half; see Eze 40:5, these foundations signify the same as the twelve foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem; and which are no other than the one foundation Christ, ministerially laid by his twelve apostles; and who is the only foundation of his church and people, and is a sure one, Rev 21:14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The foundations of the side chambers - Therefore the height of the side-chambers from the floor was six cubits there being three stories, which corresponds sufficiently with the twenty cubits which was the height of the temple. “A great cubit” is probably an architectural term to denote the line of junction between two stories, which would be that of the ceiling of the lower and the floor of the upper story.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of the house; of the chambers, or the three stories of them; it is not the temple. The lowest chamber had properly a foundation laid on the earth, but the floor of the middle and highest story must be accounted here a foundation; so from the ground to the ceiling of the first room was six great cubits; from the first beams, joists, and boards to the second; six great cubits; and from the third floor to the roof of the chamber, a like number: to which if we add one cubit for thickness of each of the three roofs or floors, you have twenty-one cubits for height, ten yards and half high.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Verse 8 explains that "the house" did not stand upon the level ground, but, like many temple buildings in antiquity (see Schurer, in Riehm"s "Handworterbuch," art. "Tern. pel Salerno"), upon a height or, raised basement (Revised Version)round about, which agrees with the statement in Eze_40:49 that the temple was approached by means of a stair. In consequence of this, the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits; or, of six cubits to the joining (Revised Version) "six cubits to the story" (Ewald); literally, six cubits to the armpit. This can hardly mean six cubits each equal to the distance from the elbow to the wrist, which would be a new definition of the length of the reed; but as Havernick and Kliefoth propose, must be taken as an architectural term indicative of the point where one portion of the building joined on to another. Accordingly, by most interpreters the six cubits are considered to be a statement of the height of the ceiling above the floor in each story, which would give an elevation of eighteen cubits for the three stories; but probably they mark only the height of the temple and side chamber basis above the ground. Kliefoth includes both views, and obtains an altitude of twenty-four cubits from the ground to the temple roof.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The foundations - The lowest chamber had properly a foundation laid on the earth, but the floor of the middle, and highest story must be accounted here a foundation; so from the ground to the ceiling of the first room, was six great cubits; from the first to the second, six great cubits; and from the third floor to the roof of the chamber, a like number; to which add we one cubit for thickness of each of the three floors, you have twenty-one cubits for height, ten yards and a half high.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

a raised part

a platform

chambers

small rooms

a full stick

Translate "stick" as in Ezekiel 40:5.

cubits

Each long cubit was about 54 centimeters. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 40:05. (See: Biblical Distance)

six cubits

about 3.2 meters (See: Biblical Distance)

five cubits

about 2.7 meters (See: Biblical Distance)

translationWords

sanctuary

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And I saw that the House had a height He does not delineate its measurement, but we learn in Tractate Middoth (4:6): “with a height of one hundred cubits.”

the foundations of the cells were the full length of a rod The foundation of the cells was the full length of a rod.

six cubits was its span [Heb. אַצִילָה.] Jonathan renders: span. [The part] of the foundation of the stone wall within the earth was six cubits wide, but [the part] above the earth was five cubits wide, as is delineated in this section in the following verse.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.