Ezekiel 42:16

16. five hundred reeds] Rather: cubits. Five hundred reeds, the reed being 6 cubits, would give a measurement of 3000 cubits. No allusion is made to such a space surrounding the house buildings anywhere else. On the contrary in Eze_45:2 the area of the temple buildings is said to be 500 cubits square, and the free place about it 50 cubits. LXX. omits the word “reeds” everywhere in these verses, expressly giving “cubits” in Eze_42:17. In Eze_42:20 (Heb.) allusion is made to the wall, and “reeds” is omitted. That the outer wall of the temple buildings formed a square of 500 cubits appears from measurements given elsewhere. Taking the direction N. to S. we have 50 (outer gate, Eze_40:21) + 100 (gate to gate, Eze_40:23) + 50 (inner gate, Eze_40:36) + 100 (inner court, Eze_40:47) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (outer gate) = 500. Or going from E. to W. the result is the same: 50 (outer gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (inner court) + 100 (house, Eze_41:13) + 100 (building behind house, Eze_41:13) = 500.

round about] The word is wanting in Eze_42:18, and Eze_42:19 reads: he turned about and measured. LXX. reads in the latter way in all the Eze_42:16-18, attaching the word to the beginning of the following verse, no doubt rightly, cf. a similar case 1Sa_14:21. In LXX. also Eze_42:18-19 are transposed, the natural order round the wall being followed.

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 42:16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.

Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds.] Lo, here the large extent of the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints. {See Trapp on "Eze 40:1}

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.

42:16-20 Having finished his tour of the inner courtyard, Ezekiel was shown the overall dimensions of the area. The whole complex was square, which denoted holiness and differentiated it from the less regular design of Solomon’s Temple and the Tabernacle before it, in which only the Most Holy Place was square. • The description of the Temple finished where it began, with a mention of a wall all around it (see 40:5); Ezekiel reminds us again that the purpose of that wall was to separate what was holy from what was common.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

five hundred reeds--the Septuagint substitutes "cubits" for "reeds," to escape the immense compass assigned to the whole, namely, a square of five hundred rods or three thousand cubits (two feet each; Eze 40:5), in all a square of one and one-seventh miles, that is, more than all ancient Jerusalem; also, there is much space thus left unappropriated. FAIRBAIRN rightly supports English Version, which agrees with the Hebrew. The vast extent is another feature marking the ideal character of the temple. It symbolizes the great enlargement of the kingdom of God, when Jehovah-Messiah shall reign at Jerusalem, and from thence to the ends of the earth (Isa 2:2-4; Jer 3:17; Rom 11:12, Rom 11:15).

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

Verse 16. - 19. He measured the east - north - south - west side] Each of which was five hundred reeds: and, as the building was square, the area must have been nearly thirteen thousand paces. No wonder this was called a city. See Eze 40:2.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) With the measuring reed.—According to Eze_40:5 the reed was six cubits long; 500 reeds therefore, the measure of each side of the square, was 3,000 cubits, or about 5,000 feet = nearly a mile. Of course such a space, quite as large as was ever enclosed by the walls of ancient Jerusalem, would have been impossible upon the hill of Moriah, and various efforts have been made by some of the commentators to reduce the size; but the use of the reed as the unit of measurement is decisive. The objection to the size is without value, as Keil well says, “for the simple reason that in Ezekiel 45, 48 there follow still further statements concerning the separation of the sanctuary from the rest of the land, which are in perfect harmony with this, and show most indisputably that the Temple seen by Ezekiel was not to have its seat in the ancient Jerusalem;” nor, it may be added, in any other earthly locality. It is a vision not designed to have a material realisation.

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

He measured the east side,.... He began with that, being at the east gate: the building was foursquare, and so was the wall about it, and had each four equilateral sides, which were separately measured; here the east side, from the two angles of it, the north and south points:

with the measuring reed; which consisted of six cubits, and which cubits were larger than the common sort by a hand's breadth; so that a measuring reed measured three yards and a half: and the whole measure of the east side were

five hundred reeds: which make one thousand seven hundred and fifty yards:

with the measuring reed round about; not round about the building, since only one side, as yet, was measured; but round about that side, or from angle to angle, or from one side to the other: having finished one side, he went to another, until he had measured all round; but did not go four times round it, only once.

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

Five. Hebrew emoth should be meoth, "three hundred, as it is printed (yet not in the Protestant version. Haydock) thrice just after, and as it is written here in Manuscript 4. Camb. 1. 2." (Kennicott) --- Reeds. Septuagint, "cubits," as Hebrew, St. Jerome, &c., insinuate. The mountain was only five hundred paces square, even when it was enlarged in the time of Josephus. (Jewish Wars vi. 14.; Greek) --- We must therefore read cubits. (Calmet) --- If we retain reeds, (Haydock) the wall will be twelve thousand cubits, (Menochius) which seems improbable. (Tournemine) See chap. xlv. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He, the angel, or Christ in the appearance of a man,

measured the east side, from the two opposite angles of the inside north and south, with the measuring reed, which was of six cubits and one hand or three inches.

Round about; as Eze 42:15. The four square was five hundred reeds, that is, each wall was one hundred and twenty-five reeds, say some, yet this hath its difficulties, though I think it more likely than the conjecture of L. C.; and, for aught I see, the guess of Villalpandus may be admitted, that the whole square was four times measured round about, from the east round, from the north round, &c., as this: the 17th, 18th, and 19th verses repeat it.

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

Five hundred reeds. Ewald, Hitzig, and Smend, with others, following the LXX, regard this wall as that of the outer court, and change the "reeds" into "cubits;" but the majority of expositors adhere to the text, and understand the wall to be that of a great quadrangle which encompassed the whole structure, or the outer court and all within.

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

He measured

The word "he" refers to the man who looked like bronze. (See: Ezekiel 40:3)

measuring stick

See how you translated this in Ezekiel 40:5.

five hundred cubits

Each long cubit was about 54 centimeters. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 40:5. AT: "500 cubits" or "about 270 meters" (See: Biblical Distance)

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