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G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works

Chapter 27
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Fragments belonging to an Aramaic writing describing the Jerusalem of the eschatological age have been identified in Caves,, and. There are also Hebrew fragments listed under 4Q232. They are all inspired by Ezekiel xl-xlviii. On palaeographical considerations, the manuscripts are thought to date to around the turn of the era. The visionary responsible for this work accompanies an angelic 'surveyor' who measures everything in the New Jerusalem, from the size of the blocks of houses, the avenues and the streets, to the detailed dimensions of rooms, stairs and windows. The dimensions are given in 'reeds', each of which consists of seven 'cubits'. But there seem to have been two cubits in use as ancient Jewish measurements, one approximately inches, the other inches long. For the editio princeps, see J. T. Milik, DJD, III, 184-93. For smaller fragments, see Milik, DJD, I, 134-5; M. Baillet, DJD, III, 84-90; E. Puech, Semitica 43-4, 87-102; DJD, XXXVII. For 1Q18, see F. García Martinez et al. DJD, XXIII, 305-55. 4Q554, fr. I.. And they call this gate Gate of Simeon... And they call this gate Gate of Joseph... And they call this gate Gate of Reuben.. II... And they call the name of this Gate of Naphtali. And from
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this gate he measured to the eastern gate stadia. And they call this gate Gate of Asher. And he measured from this gate to the eastern corner stadia. vacat And he led me into the city, and he measured each block of houses for its length and width, fifty-one reeds by fifty-one, in a square all 5Q15 I round = cubits to each side. A passage surrounds the block of houses, a street gallery, three reeds = cubits, He then showed me the dimensions of all the blocks of houses. Between each block there is a street, six reeds = cubits, wide. And the width of the avenues running from east to west: two of them are ten reeds = cubits, wide. And the third, that to the left of the Temple, measures eighteen reeds =126 cubits in width. And the width of the streets running from south to north: two of them have nine reeds and four cubits = cubits, each street. And the middle street passing through the middle of the city, its width measures thirteen reeds and one cubit = cubits. And all the streets of the city are paved with white stone.. marble and jasper. And he showed me the dimensions of the eighty side-doors. The width of the side-doors is two reeds, = cubits,. Each door has two wings of stone. The width of the wing is one reed = cubits. And he showed me the dimensions of the twelve entrances. The width of their doors are three reeds = cubits. Each door has two wings. The width of the wing is one reed and a half = cubits.. And beside each door there are two towers, one to the right and one to the 1eft. Its width is of the same dimension as its length, five reeds by five = cubits. The stairs beside the inside door, on the right side of the towers, rise to the top of the towers. Their width is five cubits. The towers and the stairs are five reeds by five and five cubits = cubits, on each side of the door. And he showed me the dimensions of the doors of the blocks of houses. Their width is two reeds = cubits. And the width.. [And
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he measured] the width of each threshold: two reeds = cubits, and the lintel: one cubit. And he measured above each threshold its wings. And he measured beyond the threshold. Its length is thirteen cubits and its width ten cubits. And he led me beyond the threshold. And behold another threshold, and a door next to the inner wall on the right side, of the same dimensions as the outer door. Its width is four cubits, its height seven cubits, and it has two wings. And in front of this door there is an entrance threshold. Its width is one reed = cubits. And the length of the entrance is two reeds = cubits, and its height is two reeds = cubits. And the door facing the other door opening into the block of houses has the same dimensions as the outer door. On the left of this entrance, he showed me a round staircase. Its length is of the same dimension as its width: two reeds by two =14 cubits. The doors facing the other doors are of the same dimensions. And a pillar is inside the staircase around which the stairs rise; its width and depth are six cubits by six, a square. And the stairs which rise beside it, their width is four cubits, and they rise in a spiral to a height of two reeds to the roof. And he led me into the block of houses, and he showed me the houses there. From one door to the other, there are fifteen: eight on one side as far as the corner, and seven from the corner to the other door. The length of the houses is three reeds = cubits, and their width, two reeds = cubits. Likewise, for all the chambers; and their height is two reeds = cubits, and their doors are in the middle. width is two reeds = cubits. And he measured the width in the middle of the house, and inside the upper floor: four cubits. Length and height: one reed = cubits. And he showed me the dimensions of the dining-halls. Each has a length of nineteen cubits and a width of twelve cubits. Each contains twenty-two couches and eleven windows of lattice-work above the couches. And next to the hall is an outer conduit. And he measured the.. of the window: its height, two cubits; its width:. cubits; and its depth is that of the width of the wall. The height of the inner is.. cubits, and that of the outer,. cubits.
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And he measured the limits of the.. Their length is nineteen cubits and their width, twelve cubits.. 11Q18, fr. On every seventh day a memorial offering of bread. And they shall take the bread outside the Temple to the right of its west side and it shall be divided. And I looked until it was divided among the eighty-four priests from all the seven divisions of the tables.. the oldest among them and fourteen priests.. priest. Two of bread with incense on them. I looked until one of the two bread was given to the High Priest.. with him. And the other was given to his deputy who stood near..
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