| Ezekiel 40:5
| And behold there was a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits and a hand breadth: and he measured the breadth of the building one reed, and the height one reed.
| Breadth. Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, "of six cubits, in a cubit and a palm;" intimating that the sacred cubit contained six palms, while the common one had only five, (chap. 43:13.; Worthington) being half a yard; (Arbuthnot) or the Hebrew cubit was a hand's breadth larger than the Babylonian, or about 21.5 inches, (Calmet) which may be styled (Menochius) the sacred cubit. (Arbuthnot) (Haydock) --- Reed. This outer wall (Calmet; Menochius) was to prevent any from falling down the precipice. It was about four yards nine inches in height and thickness, being so solid in order that the ground might not give way. Josephus describes prodigious walls, (Haydock) reaching to the bottom of the mountain, three hundred cubits on the south and west; but then the temple was much enlarged. (Calmet)
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