This Temple Is Sixty-Four Cubits Of Wideness, And As Many In
Length; And Of Height It Is Six Score Cubits.
And it is within,
all about, made with pillars of marble.
And in the middle place of
the temple be many high stages, of fourteen degrees of height, made
with good pillars all about: and this place the Jews call SANCTA
SANCTORUM; that is to say, 'Holy of Hallows.' And, in that place,
cometh no man save only their prelate, that maketh their sacrifice.
And the folk stand all about, in diverse stages, after they be of
dignity or of worship, so that they all may see the sacrifice. And
in that temple be four entries, and the gates be of cypress, well
made and curiously dight: and within the east gate our Lord said,
'Here is Jerusalem.' And in the north side of that temple, within
the gate, there is a well, but it runneth nought, of the which holy
writ speaketh of and saith, VIDI AQUAM EGREDIENTEM DE TEMPLO; that
is to say, 'I saw water come out of the temple.'
And on that other side of the temple there is a rock that men clepe
Moriach, but after it was clept Bethel, where the ark of God with
relics of Jews were wont to be put. That ark or hutch with the
relics Titus led with him to Rome, when he had discomfited all the
Jews. In that ark were the Ten Commandments, and of Aaron's yard,
and Moses' yard with the which he made the Red Sea depart, as it
had been a wall, on the right side and on the left side, whiles
that the people of Israel passed the sea dry-foot: and with that
yard he smote the rock, and the water came out of it: and with
that yard he did many wonders. And therein was a vessel of gold
full of manna, and clothing and ornaments and the tabernacle of
Aaron, and a tabernacle square of gold with twelve precious stones,
and a box of jasper green with four figures and eight names of our
Lord, and seven candlesticks of gold, and twelve pots of gold, and
four censers of gold, and an altar of gold, and four lions of gold
upon the which they bare cherubin of gold twelve spans long, and
the circle of swans of heaven with a tabernacle of gold and a table
of silver, and two trumps of silver, and seven barley loaves and
all the other relics that were before the birth of our Lord Jesu
Christ.
And upon that rock was Jacob sleeping when he saw the angels go up
and down by a ladder, and he said, VERE LOCUS ISTE SANCTUS EST, ET
EGO IGNORABAM; that is to say, 'Forsooth this place is holy, and I
wist it nought.' And there an angel held Jacob still, and turned
his name, and clept him Israel. And in that same place David saw
the angel that smote the folk with a sword, and put it up bloody in
the sheath.
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