Ezekiel 46:21-22 - Exposition

The prophet next observed, as his guide led him round the outer area, that in every corner of the court there was a court —literally, a court in a corner of the court , a court in a corner of the court—and hat these were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad . The word "joined" קְטֻרוֹת ) has been variously translated: by Gesenins (see 'Hebrews Lex.,' sub voce ), as "vaulted" or "roofed," with which Hitzig seems to agree; by the LXX ; whom Bottcher and Ewald follow, μικρά , equal to contracts; by Kliefoth, "uncovered;" by Havernick, "firm," "strongly built;" by Smend," separated;" by Hengstenberg and Schroder, after the Talmudists ( fumum exhalantia ), "smoking" or "made with chimneys"; but is probably best rendered by the Revised Version, Keil, Currey, after Gesenius, "enclosed," meaning muris cineta et januis elausa . According to the last clause of Ezekiel 46:22 , these four corners were of one measure ; or, one measure was to the four cut-away places , i.e. corners, מְהֻקְצָעוֹת being the hoph. participle of קָצַע , "to cut off." This last word is omitted in the LXX . and the Vulgate, Hitzig, and Smend, the puncta extraordinaria showing that the Massorites regarded it as suspicious.