Description
The Holy Place was the interior of the Jerusalem Temple or of the earlier Tabernacle. This interior contained two rooms, an outer one and an inner one. “Holy Place” may refer to either one of these rooms. Most often “Holy Place” refers to the larger room outside the veil, while the smaller room on its west end is called the “Most Holy Place” or “Holy of Holies” (see Holy of Holies, Most Holy Place). In the Tabernacle the Holy Place measured 10 by 20 cubits (5 by 10 meters; 16.5 by 33 feet), while in the Temple it was 20 cubits by 40 cubits (10 by 20 meters; 33 by 66 feet).
Translation
In some languages the outer room of the sanctuary may be referred to simply as “the first room of the Tabernacle/Temple” or “the first holy room of the Tabernacle/Temple.” “Holy Place” may also be rendered “taboo place [or, room]” or possibly “restricted place,” meaning that only the priests could enter it.
There may be complications in speaking of the first part of the sanctuary as being the Holy Place, since in some languages the word “place” only indicates a location and not an enclosure. Therefore “the Holy Place” must be rendered in these languages as “the Holy Room.” Other possible renderings are “the Place/Room where God is [present]” and “the Place/Room of God.” In LEV 20:3CEV has “the place where I [the LORD] am worshiped.”
LEV 21:23: The use of the plural “my sanctuaries” (RSV) here is surprising and troubling to scholars. Some have suggested that it is evidence of a time when there were several shrines where the Israelites worshiped, but others see it as a reference to “my sanctuary and all its contents” (so TOB). This interpretation is essentially the one followed by NJB and NAB as well as GNT, and should be adopted in the receptor language. A literal rendering of “my sanctuaries” would be misleading, and the singular “my sanctuary” (NIV, LB) does not accurately reflect the text.
HEB 9:1–HEB 9:2: “Sanctuary” (RSV) in verse 1 is literally “holy place” (hagion in Greek). Here it refers to the entire place of worship. It is also called a “tent” (RSV; skēnē in Greek) in HEB 8:2. A different Greek word (hagia) is used for the Holy Place in 9.2 (literally “holy places”), which is the outer part of the sanctuary. The text is, however, complicated by the fact that the same Greek word for “tent” is used to describe the whole building (8.2), the Holy Place (9.2), and the Most Holy Place (9.3). GECL solves the problem by beginning 9.2 with “There was a tent set up with two rooms.” NJB is similar: “There was a tent which comprised two compartments.” The writer was not interested in the details of any particular sanctuary, but the details that he does give are consistent with a general picture of a large room divided into two parts by a curtain.