Bible Strands
Ezekiel 41:7
The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel records a divine vision of the temple’s architecture while standing in the temple court. God reveals the structural arrangement of the side rooms surrounding the sanctuary.
The words — The Hebrew phrase וְֽ/רָחֲבָ֡ה (ve./ra.cha.Vah) means “and it was broad,” describing how the side rooms expanded. This expansion accommodates the ascending levels of the surrounding structure.
The thread — The progression of levels echoes the stairway description in 1 Kings 6:8, which notes an entrance on the south side leading upward. The pattern of gradual expansion parallels the growth imagery in Matthew 13:32 and the call to advance beyond foundational teachings in Hebrews 6:1.
Why it lands — The text mandates a literal ascent through each story to reach the highest level. Readers must follow the defined path of progression without skipping stages.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 6:8 The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.
- Matthew 13:32 Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
- Hebrews 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God,