Ezekiel 40:3

Hebrew Bible

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on this very day, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. 2 By divine visions he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain, and on it was a structure like a city, to the south. 3 When he brought me there, I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway. 4 The man said to me, “Son of man, watch closely, listen carefully, and pay attention to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I can show it to you. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”

1 Enoch 61:1

Pseudepigrapha

1 And I saw in those days how long cords were given to those angels, and they took to themselves wings and flew, and they went towards the north. 2 And I asked the angel, saying unto him: 'Why have those (angels) taken these cords and gone off?' And he said unto me: 'They have gone to measure.' 3 And the angel who went with me said unto me: 'These shall bring the measures of the righteous, And the ropes of the righteous to the righteous, That they may stay themselves on the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever. 4 The elect shall begin to dwell with the elect, And those are the measures which shall be given to faith And which shall strengthen righteousness.

 Notes and References

"... The city will be rebuilt after having been destroyed by enemies, and there is the promise of ‘holiness’ after a time of enormous defilement because of the proliferation of corpses. The perimeters of Jerusalem will be determined with a measuring line, thus indicating where the new walls will be built. For a similar act, see Ezekiel 40:3, 5; 42:16, 19; Zechariah 2:1–2. The tower of Hananel is situated on the north-east side of the city and is also mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1; 12:39; and Zechariah 14:10. The Corner Gate is probably north-west of the city (see 2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 26:9; Zechariah 14:10). Gareb and Goa are unknown. The valley is most probably the Valley of Ben Hinnom (see 2 Kings 23:10–14 where the Kidron Valley is also mentioned; see also Jeremiah 7:31–32; 19). The whole area that was so defiled will be holy to the LORD, which is an enormous contrast with the past (compare Zechariah 14:10–11, 20–21) ..."

Lalleman-de Winkel, H. Jeremiah and Lamentations (p. 232) InterVarsity Press, 2013

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