The song that the Leviim would recite in the Temple: On the first day they would say: Hashem’s is the earth and its fullness, the inhabited land and those who dwell within it. On the second [day] they would say: Great is Hashem and much praised, in the city of our God, Mount of His Holiness.” On the third [day] they would say: “God stands in the Divine assembly, in the midst of judges shall He judge.” On the fourth [day] they would say: “O God of vengeance, Hashem, O God of vengeance, appear, etc. On the fifth [day] they would say: Sing joyously to the God of our might, call out to the God of Jacob.” On the sixth [day] they would say: “Hashem will have reigned, He will have donned His grandeur, etc.” On the Sabbath they would say: “A song, a hymn for the Sabbath day.” A song, a hymn for the future era, for a day that is entirely a Sabbath, [a day of] rest [leading] to everlasting life.

The Kohanim would stand guard in three places in the Holy Temple: in the Chamber of Avtinas, and in the Chamber of the Ray, and in the Hall of the Fire. And the Leviim [would stand guard] in twenty-one places: five [Leviim] at the five gateways of the Temple Mount; four [Leviim] at the four corners of [the Temple Mount walls], on its inside; five [Leviim] at [the] five gateways of the Temple Courtyard; four [Leviim] at its four corners, on the outside; and one [Levi] in the Chamber of the Offering; and one [Levi] in the Chamber of the Curtain; and one [Levi] behind the Chamber of the Ark-cover.

The Officer of the Temple Mount would make the rounds to each and every guard, and torches were lit before him. And any guard who did not stand, the Officer of the Temple Mount would say to him, “Peace unto you!” [If] it was apparent that he was sleeping, [the Officer] would strike him with his staff, and he also had permission to burn his garment. And they would say, “What is that noise in the Courtyard? [It must be] the sound of a Levi being beaten and his clothing being burned, because he fell asleep on his watch.” R’ Eliezer ben Yaakov says: One time they found my mother’s brother sleeping [on his watch] and they burned his garment.

The Temple Mount had five gateways: the two Chuldah Gates in the south were used for enter-ing and exiting; Kiponos in the west was used for entering and exiting; Tadi in the north was not used for any purpose; the Eastern Gate, upon it was depicted a likeness of Shushan, the capital city [of Persia], that through it, the Kohen Gadol who was to burn the parah [adumah], and the parah [itself] and all the others assisting [the parah] would exit to the Mount of Olives.