What Does Ezekiel 40:48 Mean?
And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five forearms on this side and five on that side. And the gate was three forearms wide on this side and three on that side.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.THE KEY
The opening into the house has a measured spaciousness: each side mirrors the other.
THE MEANING
The way into the house has a precise shape. Its repeated measures hold both sides in balance, giving the opening a clear form. Here, spaciousness is not formless; it has room within measured boundaries.
THE ROOT
רֹחַב
roḥav
GROWS FROM
רחב
r-ḥ-b
To be wide, widen, or become spacious.
“wide” in this verse is roḥav. English “breadth” can sound like a bare dimension, but רֹחַב belongs to a family of words for widening and spaciousness. The gate’s width is therefore more than a number: it describes a shaped opening, with symmetry giving that spaciousness form.
ALSO GROWS
raḥav: To become wide or spread out.
רָחַב
This verb makes the gate’s breadth a movement toward room, not only a fixed measurement.
merḥav: A broad or spacious place.
מֶרְחָב
This noun connects the gate’s measured width with the experience of being brought into open space.
THE PATTERN
The dwelling place is revealed through ordered proportions that give its space a discernible form.
According to all that I show you, the form of the dwelling and the form of all its vessels, so you make it.And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty forearms was its length, according to the breadth of the house; and ten forearms was its breadth before the house.And the city lies four-cornered, and its length is as great as its width. And he measures the city with the reed, twelve thousand stades. Its length and width and height are equal.THE THREAD
From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.“Large place” translates מֶרְחָב (merḥav), from the same root רחב as the “breadth” of the gate. Ezekiel gives spaciousness a measured architectural form; the psalm describes being brought into that spaciousness from distress.
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