1
他帶我出來向北，到外院，又帶我進入聖屋；這聖屋一排順著空地，一排與北邊鋪石地之屋相對。
3
對著內院那二十肘寬之空地，又對著外院的鋪石地，在第三層樓上有樓廊對著樓廊。
5
聖屋因為樓廊佔去些地方，所以上層比中下兩層窄些。
6
聖屋有三層，卻無柱子，不像外院的屋子有柱子；所以上層比中下兩層更窄。
10
向南（原文是東）在內院牆裡有聖屋，一排與鋪石地之屋相對，一排順著空地。
11
這聖屋前的夾道與北邊聖屋的夾道長寬一樣；出入之處與北屋門的樣式相同。
12
正在牆前、夾道的東頭，有門可以進入，與向南聖屋的門一樣。
13
他對我說：順著空地的南屋北屋，都是聖屋；親近耶和華的祭司當在那裡吃至聖的物，也當在那裡放至聖的物，就是素祭、贖罪祭，和贖愆祭，因此處為聖。
14
祭司進去出了聖所的時候，不可直到外院，但要在聖屋放下他們供職的衣服，因為是聖衣；要穿上別的衣服才可以到屬民的外院。
904. 21:15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. This symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.
He who spoke with me symbolizes the Lord speaking from heaven, because it was an angel speaking, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls mentioned in verse 9, who means the Lord speaking from heaven (no. 895). A reed symbolizes a power or ability springing from the goodness of love - a reed symbolizing power or ability (no. 485), and gold the goodness of love (nos. 211, 726). To measure means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing, thus to understand and know it (no. 486). The city, the holy Jerusalem, symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Its gates symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word's literal sense, which are truths and goods owing to the spiritual life in them (no. 899). And the wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine and concepts come (no. 898).
It is apparent from this that "he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall," symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.
[2] These symbolic meanings cannot be seen at all in the literal sense, for one sees in it only that an angel speaking with John had a gold reed with which to measure the city and its gates and wall. But even so, that these words contain another meaning, a spiritual meaning, is clearly apparent from the fact that the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, but the church. Consequently everything said about Jerusalem as a city symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, and everything having to do with the church is, in itself, spiritual.
Such a spiritual meaning is present also in what is said in chapter 11 above, where we are told the following:
I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." (Revelation 11:1)
A similar spiritual meaning is present, too, in everything that the angel measured with a reed in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48. Also in these verses in Zechariah:
I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what its width is and what its length." (Zechariah 2:1-2)
Indeed, such a spiritual meaning is present in everything connected with the Tabernacle and in everything connected with the Temple in Jerusalem, whose measurements we are told, and also in the measurements themselves. And yet nothing of this can be seen in the literal sense.
