Ezekiel 42:16

five hundred reeds Rather: cubits. Five hundred reeds, the reed being 6 cubits, would give a measurement of 3000 cubits. No allusion is made to such a space surrounding the house buildings anywhere else. On the contrary in Ezekiel 45:2 the area of the temple buildings is said to be 500 cubits square, and the free place about it 50 cubits. LXX. omits the word "reeds" everywhere in these verses, expressly giving "cubits" in Ezekiel 42:17. In Ezekiel 42:20 (Heb.) allusion is made to the wall, and "reeds" is omitted. That the outer wall of the temple buildings formed a square of 500 cubits appears from measurements given elsewhere. Taking the direction N. to S. we have 50 (outer gate, Ezekiel 40:21) + 100 (gate to gate, Ezekiel 40:23) + 50 (inner gate, Ezekiel 40:36) + 100 (inner court, Ezekiel 40:47) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (outer gate) = 500. Or going from E. to W. the result is the same: 50 (outer gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (inner court) + 100 (house, Ezekiel 41:13) + 100 (building behind house, Ezekiel 41:13) = 500.

round about The word is wanting in Ezekiel 42:18, and Ezekiel 42:19 reads: he turned aboutand measured. LXX. reads in the latter way in all the Ezekiel 42:16-18, attaching the word to the beginning of the following verse, no doubt rightly, cf. a similar case 1 Samuel 14:21. In LXX. also Ezekiel 42:18 are transposed, the natural order round the wall being followed.