Add parallel Print Page Options

22 The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the construction of the pillars was completed.

23 He also made the large bronze basin called “The Sea.”[a] It measured 15 feet[b] from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood 7½ feet[c] high. Its circumference was 45 feet.[d] 24 Under the rim all the way around it were round ornaments[e] arranged in settings 15 feet long.[f] The ornaments were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.”[g]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 7:23 tn Heb “He made the sea, cast.”sn This large basin was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (2 Chr 4:6; cf. Exod 30:17-21).
  2. 1 Kings 7:23 tn Heb “10 cubits.”
  3. 1 Kings 7:23 tn Heb “5 cubits.”
  4. 1 Kings 7:23 tn Heb “and a measuring line went around it 30 cubits all around.” The measurements are an approximation. The LXX has the number 33. Neither fit a strict calculation of the diameter time pi, but the precise details of measuring (e.g. the width of the lip or other factors) are not known and numbers may be rounded.
  5. 1 Kings 7:24 tn Or “gourd-shaped ornaments.”
  6. 1 Kings 7:24 tn Heb “10 cubits surrounding the sea all around.” The precise meaning of this description is uncertain.
  7. 1 Kings 7:24 tn Heb “the gourd-shaped ornaments were in two rows, cast in its casting.”

22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars(A) was completed.

23 He made the Sea(B) of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line(C) of thirty cubits[a] to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 7:23 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters