And the pavement ran along the side of the gates, that is, there was a walkway on each side of the outer courtyard’s gatehouses, corresponding to the length of the gates, that is, the width of the walkway (including the rooms that were up against the wall of the outer courtyard) was the same as the length of the gatehouses. As a result, the inside edge of the walkway was the same distance from the wall as the inner end of the gatehouses. The gatehouses extended 22 meters (74 feet) into the outer courtyard beyond the wall, so that was the width of the walkway (including the rooms). If the rooms were 12.5 meters (42 feet) deep, then the walkway was actually 9.5 meters (32 feet) wide.

This was the lower pavement: There was no other walkway, either in the outer courtyard or in the inner courtyard, but the inner courtyard appears to have been somewhat higher than the outer courtyard (see verse 31, which mentions eight steps leading up to the south gate of the inner courtyard). So translators who need to identify what this walkway was lower than may say “This walkway was lower than the inner courtyard.”

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 .