Ezekiel 40:31

Utter = Outer, and so in Ezekiel 40:37; Ezekiel 42:1; Ezekiel 42:3; Ezekiel 42:7; Ezekiel 42:14; Ezekiel 44:19; Ezekiel 46:20. In old English utter and outer appear to have been often interchanged.

Eight steps. — All the gates of the inner court (see Ezekiel 40:34; Ezekiel 40:37) had one more step than those of the outer, the inner court being raised so much more above the outer than the outer was above the precincts. The two sets together made up fifteen steps, the same number as led up in the later Temple from the court of the women to the court of Israel, and on which, according to Jewish tradition, the Levites stood to chant the fifteen Psalms (Psalms 120-134) called “Songs of Degrees.”

Ezekiel 40:32 describe the east gate, and Ezekiel 40:35 the north gate, both exactly like the one already described.