And the gateway had windows round about, narrowing inwards into their jambs in the side rooms, and likewise the vestibule had windows round about inside: There were windows all around the walls of the gatehouse. Revised Standard Version says these windows were narrowing, which is literally “closed.” Translators have made many guesses as to what “closed” windows means. Most think they were “small” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “narrow” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, King James Version, Complete Jewish Bible) windows, or windows with “shutters” (New Revised Standard Version; similarly New American Standard Bible), “screens” (Christian Community Bible), “trellises” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt). For others the windows were narrower on the inside of the wall and wider on the outside (so Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, English Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Such windows were useful to defend medieval forts and towns, because archers could shoot arrows through the narrow windows at the enemies outside (compare New International Version “narrow parapet openings,” which makes the military nature of the openings explicit). Presumably in Ezekiel’s vision the reason for these windows was not to shoot arrows through, but to allow the guards stationed in the gatehouse to watch what was going on inside the Temple courtyard, near the gate. However, as Good News Translation shows, there were openings in all the walls of the gatehouse, that is, in the walls of the side rooms (that is, the small rooms [verse 7]), the jambs (that is, the intervening walls [verse 10]), and the walls of the vestibule (that is, the porch [verse 7]). If they were windows to look through, it is difficult to understand why they were in the inner walls too.

A better interpretation is to understand the Hebrew expression for “closed windows” as niches in the walls (so Block). A niche is a specially-made hole in a wall in which someone can place books, pots, or other items. If the hole in the wall is large enough, there might be shelves in it so that more things can be stored there. Such niches can look like windows from one side of the wall, but they are closed off at the back, so that, from the other side of the wall, there is no sign of them. In Ezekiel’s vision they probably functioned as cupboards or shelves to store things, but we do not know what sort of things were kept there. They may have been up to 1 meter (3 feet) deep, since the walls were at least 2.5 meters (8 feet) thick.

A model for this part of the verse is:

• On all the inside walls of the gatehouse were niches. They were on the walls of the small rooms, the intervening walls, and the walls of the porch.

And on the jambs were palm trees: The internal walls of the gatehouse were also decorated with carvings of palm trees.

Since there were windows, or niches, on most of the internal walls, these carvings were on the jambs, that is, on the ends of the intervening walls between the small rooms and on the doorways at each end of the gatehouse. These carvings may have been of the whole tree, or just the palm fronds, or a stylized pattern of palm leaves.

Translators need to be sure they indicate that the palm trees were carvings. In areas where palm trees are not known, translators may use a generic expression, such as “carvings of [branches of] trees.” This whole clause may be rendered “and people had carved images of trees on the walls along the passageway and on the doorways.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .