Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.

EZEKIEL 40:6KJV
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Ezekiel 40:6 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 40:6 mean?

Ezekiel 40:6 describes a man leading Ezekiel to the eastern gate of a temple, where he ascends stairs and measures the width of the gate’s threshold, finding it to be one reed wide on each side. The verse focuses on the careful measurement and structure of the temple entrance.

In this vision, Ezekiel is being shown detailed plans for a future temple by a heavenly guide. The act of measuring, using a reed as a unit, highlights the precision and order of the temple’s design. The eastern gate is significant because it faces the direction from which God’s glory is often described as coming in Ezekiel’s visions.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 40:6

  • שַׁעַר (shaʿar, "gate"): This word points to a main entrance, emphasizing the importance of the eastern gate as a focal point of the temple.
  • מִפְתָּן (miptan, "threshold"): This refers to the entryway or sill of the gate, drawing attention to the exact place being measured, which shows the concern for every detail in the temple’s construction.
  • קָנֶה (qaneh, "reed"): A reed was a standard measuring stick, roughly 10 feet long, so the verse is giving a specific, substantial width for the threshold, not just a symbolic measurement.

Why Ezekiel 40:6 matters

  • Ezekiel 40:6 helps readers see that the temple vision is not just symbolic but includes real, physical dimensions, underlining the seriousness and reality of what Ezekiel is shown.
  • The focus on the eastern gate connects to earlier parts of Ezekiel where God’s glory departs and returns by the east, making this gate especially meaningful in the vision.
  • The detailed measurements set the tone for the following chapters, where Ezekiel records the temple’s layout step by step, showing that order and holiness are central to God’s design.

Where else these words appear

“threshold” Hebrew H5592 · used in 28 verses

  • Exodus 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
  • 2 Kings 25:18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
  • Jeremiah 35:4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

“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.

“stairs” Hebrew H4609 · used in 39 verses

  • Exodus 20:26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
  • Nehemiah 12:37 And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.
  • Psalms 132:1 A Song of degrees. LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions:

“measured” Hebrew H4058 · used in 49 verses

  • Exodus 16:18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
  • Ezekiel 40:13 He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.
  • Ezekiel 41:13 So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long;