What Does Ezekiel 42:3 Mean in the King James?
Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew sets the galleries “face to face,” echoing the word for “inner” and joining inwardness with a space turned toward encounter.
THE MEANING
The sanctuary’s inner court and outer pavement stand across measured space, while galleries face galleries on three levels. Its arrangement gives distinct spaces a direction toward one another, without erasing the distance between them.
THE ROOT
פְּנִימִית
pənīmit
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn toward, face.
“inner / face to face” in this verse is pənīmit. The verse uses פָּנִים (panim, “face”) in its face-to-face description, while פְּנִימִית (pənīmit, “inner”) echoes the same פנים word-family. In this architecture, inwardness and facing are linked: the inner space is oriented toward what stands opposite it.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face, front, presence
פָּנִים
The repeated face-to-face phrasing pictures each gallery as oriented toward another.
pənīmit: Inner, inward
פְּנִימִית
The inner court echoes the פנים word-family, linking inwardness with the face or front that meets what stands opposite.
lifnei: Before, in front of, in the presence of
לִפְנֵי
The language of being before a face adds the sense of presence to the verse’s carefully oriented spaces.
THE PATTERN
Distinct spaces can be oriented toward one another across a measured distance.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.THE THREAD
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.Ezekiel describes galleries with the Hebrew phrase panim el-panim, “face to face”; Exodus uses the same phrase for encounter. The measured temple arrangement therefore echoes a relation of presence: distinct sides are turned toward one another.
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