And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple.
Parallel translations
- WEB This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
- KJV This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
- BSB This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.
- NKJV This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
- NASB This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The law of the house is that the whole area on the mountaintop is most holy. God's dwelling place is wholly set apart and sacred.
Overview
This verse summarizes the governing principle of the temple: the entire precinct is most holy. What was once reserved for the innermost room now characterizes the whole, signaling the spread of God's holiness. This expanding holiness anticipates the new creation, where holiness fills everything and God's people, made holy in Christ, dwell wholly in his presence (Zechariah 14:20-21, Revelation 21:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ezek 40:2In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.
- Rev 21:27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
- Joel 3:17“So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
- Ezek 42:20He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the length five hundred, and the width five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
- Ps 93:5Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, Yahweh, forever more.
- Zech 14:20–21In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH”; and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 43:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.