What Does Ezekiel 41:15 Mean?
And he measured the length of the building facing the cut-off place that was behind it, and its galleries on the one side and on the other, one hundred forearms, with the inner temple and the porches of the court.
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 measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;THE KEY
The measured sanctuary includes the space cut apart behind it: its boundary belongs to the whole design.
THE MEANING
You see a sanctuary whose size is measured in relation to a place set apart behind it, with galleries on both sides. The inner temple and court porches belong to the same dimensional account, holding the center, boundary, and extensions within one design.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that separation removes something from the whole: here, the set-apart space is included in the sanctuary’s measured design.
THE ROOT
אֹרֶךְ
orekh
GROWS FROM
ארך
arak
to be long, to extend
אֹרֶךְ (orekh, length) comes from ארך (arak, to be long), the root also heard in אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim, slow to flare). Here extension describes a building’s span; in that phrase, it describes the time before anger flares.
ALSO GROWS
arokh: long, extended
אָרֹךְ
This adjective makes the spatial sense of the verse explicit: the building has measurable extension.
erekh appayim: slow to flare
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
The same root makes extension temporal too: being long before anger flares.
הַגִּזְרָה
ha-gizrah
GROWS FROM
גזר
gazar
to cut off, divide, or determine
“cut-off place” in this verse is ha-gizrah. The separate place is גִּזְרָה (gizrah, a cut-off area), from גזר (gazar, to cut or divide); the same word-family names a decree, something determined or set apart. The measured design includes this divided space, so separation defines the architecture without breaking its wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
gazar: to cut, sever, or divide
גָּזַר
The root makes the separate place a space marked off by a boundary.
gezerah: a decree or decision
גְּזֵרָה
A decree sets something apart by determination, echoing how the measured plan defines its spaces.
וּמָדַד
u-madad
GROWS FROM
מדד
madad
to measure
“measured” in this verse is u-madad. The verb מָדַד (madad, to measure) shares its root with מִדָּה (middah, a measure or dimension), joining the act of measuring to the size it reveals. Here measurement makes the relationships among the building, the set-apart space, and the flanking galleries visible.
ALSO GROWS
madad: to measure
מָדַד
This is the measuring action that establishes the building’s dimensions.
middah: a measure, size, or dimension
מִדָּה
The related noun names the dimension the act of measuring discloses.
THE PATTERN
Measurement in sacred vision reveals a place’s designed scope, from its boundaries to the structures within it.
And behold, there was a wall outside the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six forearms long, by the forearm and a handbreadth. He measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and its rising, one reed.Then I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.A reed like a rod was given to me, and the messenger stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who bow down in it.THE THREAD
Who measures the waters in the hollow of his hand, marks out heaven with a hand's span, holds the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, weighs the mountains in the scales, and the hills in the balance?The verb translated measured is מָדַד (madad, to measure), the same root used for the temple’s measured length. Isaiah widens the scale from one sanctuary to waters, heavens, dust, and mountains, placing Ezekiel’s dimensions within a vision of a world whose vastness is also measured.
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