And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

EZEKIEL 40:5KJV
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Ezekiel 40:5 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 40:5 mean?

Ezekiel 40:5 describes the outer wall of the temple in Ezekiel’s vision and gives its dimensions using the measuring rod carried by the man who is showing him around. The wall marks the outside of the temple area, and its thickness and height are each one rod.

The “house” is the temple building and its surrounding area. After Ezekiel meets the man in verse 3, the measuring begins at the outer boundary. The KJV’s “breadth of the building” refers here to the thickness of the wall.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 40:5

  • “reed” — קָנֶה (qaneh): The word can mean a reed or a rod. Here it refers to a rod used as a standard measure, not simply a plant.
  • “building” — בִּנְיָן (binyan): The word means a structure or something built. In this sentence, the structure being measured is the wall just mentioned.

Why Ezekiel 40:5 matters

  • The measurement uses a longer cubit than the ordinary one. Each of the rod’s six cubits is “a cubit and an hand breadth,” or a cubit plus the width of a hand.
  • The wall has equal thickness and height in these measurements. The man measures its breadth as “one reed” and its height as “one reed.”
  • The verse establishes the measuring unit used as the tour continues. The same reed is used to measure parts of the gateway in the verses that follow.

Where else these words appear

“breadth” Hebrew H2948 · used in 5 verses

  • Exodus 25:25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.
  • Exodus 37:12 Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about.
  • Ezekiel 40:43 And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.

“building” Hebrew H1146 · used in 6 verses

  • Ezekiel 41:12 Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
  • Ezekiel 41:15 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;
  • Ezekiel 42:5 Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.

“reed” Hebrew H7070 · used in 38 verses

  • Genesis 41:5 And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
  • Exodus 37:22 Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.
  • Isaiah 46:6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

“height” Hebrew H6967 · used in 43 verses

  • Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
  • 1 Kings 6:10 And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
  • 2 Chronicles 4:2 Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.