{Lieth foursquare} (	etrag(936e)os keitai). Present middle
indicative of keimai. The predicate adjective is from 	etra
(Aeolic for 	essares four) and g(936e)os (g(936e)ia corner,  Mt
6:5 ) here only in N.T. As in  Eze 48:16,20 . It is a tetragon or
quadrilateral quadrangle ( 21:12f. ). {The length thereof is as
great as the breadth} (	o m(886b)os aut(8873) hoson to platos). It is
rectangular, both walls and city within. Babylon, according to
Herodotus, was a square, each side being 120 stadia. Diodorus
Siculus says that Nineveh was also foursquare. {With the reed}
(	(9369) kalam(9369)). Instrumental case (cf. verse  15  for kalamos)
and for metre(935c) (aorist active indicative here) {Twelve thousand
furlongs} (epi stadi(936e) d(9364)eka chiliad(936e)). This use of the
genitive stadi(936e) with epi is probably correct (reading of
Aleph P), though A Q have stadious (more usual, but confusing
here with chiliad(936e)). Thucydides and Xenophon use epi with
the genitive in a like idiom (in the matter of). It is not clear
whether the 1500 miles (12,000 furlongs) is the measurement of
each of the four sides or the sum total. Some of the rabbis
argued that the walls of the New Jerusalem of Ezekiel would reach
to Damascus and the height would be 1500 miles high. {Equal}
(isa). That is, it is a perfect cube like the Holy of Holies in
Solomon's temple ( 1Ki 6:19f. ). This same measurement (platos,
m(886b)os, hupsos) is applied to Christ's love in  Eph 3:18 , with
athos (depth) added. It is useless to try to reduce the
measurements or to put literal interpretations upon this highly
wrought symbolic language. Surely the meaning is that heaven will
be large enough for all, as Jesus said ( Joh 14:1ff. ) without
insisting on the materialistic measurement of a gorgeous
apartment house full of inside rooms.