2 Chronicles 4
New English Translation
4 He made a bronze altar, 30 feet[a] long, 30 feet[b] wide, and 15 feet[c] high. 2 He also made the big bronze basin called “The Sea.”[d] It measured 15 feet[e] from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood 7½[f] high. Its circumference was 45 feet.[g] 3 Images of bulls were under it all the way around, ten every 18 inches[h] all the way around. The bulls were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.”[i] 4 “The Sea” stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. “The Sea” was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward.[j] 5 It was four fingers thick, and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold 18,000 gallons.[k] 6 He made ten washing basins; he put five on the south side and five on the north side. In them they rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices; the priests washed in “The Sea.”
7 He made ten gold lampstands according to specifications and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. 8 He made ten tables and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He also made 100 gold bowls. 9 He made the courtyard of the priests and the large enclosure and its doors;[l] he plated their doors with bronze. 10 He put “The Sea” on the south side, in the southeast corner.
11 Huram Abi[m] made the pots, shovels, and bowls. He finished all the work on God’s temple he had been assigned by King Solomon.[n] 12 He made[o] the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars, the latticework for the bowl-shaped tops of the two pillars, 13 the 400 pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework had two rows of these ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of the pillar), 14 the ten[p] movable stands with their ten[q] basins, 15 the big bronze basin called “The Sea” with its twelve bulls underneath, 16 and the pots, shovels, and meat forks.[r] All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord’s temple[s] were made from polished bronze. 17 The king had them cast in earth foundries[t] in the region of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 18 Solomon made so many of these items they did not weigh the bronze.[u]
19 Solomon also made these items for God’s temple: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence[v] was kept, 20 the pure gold lampstands and their lamps which burned as specified at the entrance to the inner sanctuary, 21 the pure gold flower-shaped ornaments, lamps, and tongs, 22 the pure gold trimming shears, basins, pans, and censers, and the gold door sockets for the inner sanctuary (the Most Holy Place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 tn Heb “20 cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the length would have been 30 feet (9 m).
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 tn Heb “20 cubits.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 tn Heb “10 cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 tn Heb “He made the sea, cast.”sn The large bronze basin known as “The Sea” was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (see v. 6; cf. Exod 30:17-21).
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 tn Heb “10 cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the diameter would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 tn Heb “5 cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 7.5 feet (2.25 m).
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 tn Heb “and a measuring line went around it 30 cubits all around.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 tn Heb “ten every cubit.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 tn Heb “rows being cast with its casting.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:4 tn Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 tn Heb “3,000 baths” (note that the capacity is given in 1 Kings 7:26 as “2,000 baths”). A bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons (about 22 liters), so 3,000 baths was a quantity of about 18,000 gallons (66,000 liters).
- 2 Chronicles 4:9 tn Heb “and the doors for the enclosure.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:11 tn Heb “Huram,” but here this refers to Huram Abi (2 Chr 2:13). The complete name has been used in the translation to avoid possible confusion with King Huram of Tyre.
- 2 Chronicles 4:11 tn Heb “Huram finished doing all the work which he did for King Solomon [on] the house of God.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:12 tn The words “he made” are added for stylistic reasons.
- 2 Chronicles 4:14 tc The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (ʿasah, “he made”), which probably should be emended to עֶשֶׂר (ʿeser, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).
- 2 Chronicles 4:14 tc The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (ʿasah, “he made”), which probably should be emended to עֲשָׂרָה (ʿasarah, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).
- 2 Chronicles 4:16 tc Some prefer to read here “bowls,” see v. 11 and 1 Kgs 7:45.
- 2 Chronicles 4:16 tn Heb “Huram Abi made for King Solomon [for] the house of the Lord.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:17 tn Or perhaps, “molds.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:18 tn Heb “Solomon made all these items in great abundance so that the weight of the bronze was not sought.”
- 2 Chronicles 4:19 tn Heb “the bread of the face/presence.”sn This bread offered to God was viewed as a perpetual offering to God. See Lev 24:5-9.
2 Chronicles 4
New International Reader's Version
More Facts About the Temple
4 Solomon made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. 2 He made a huge metal bowl for washing. Its shape was round. It measured 15 feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high. And it was 45 feet around. 3 Below the rim there was a circle of bull figures around the bowl. In every 18 inches around the bowl there were ten bulls. The bulls were arranged in two rows. They were made as part of the bowl itself.
4 The bowl stood on 12 bulls. Three of them faced north. Three faced west. Three faced south. And three faced east. The bowl rested on top of them. Their rear ends were toward the center. 5 The bowl was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. The rim was shaped like the bloom of a lily. The bowl held 18,000 gallons of water.
6 Solomon made ten smaller bowls for washing. He placed five of them on the south side of the huge bowl. He placed the other five on the north side. The things used for the burnt offerings were rinsed in the smaller bowls. But the priests used the huge bowl for washing.
7 Solomon made ten gold lampstands. He followed the pattern the Lord had given him. He placed the lampstands in the temple. He put five of them on the south side. He put the other five on the north side.
8 He made ten tables. He placed them in the temple. He put five of them on the south side. He put the other five on the north side. He also made 100 gold sprinkling bowls.
9 He made the courtyard of the priests. He also made the large courtyard. He made doors for it. He covered the doors with bronze. 10 He placed the huge bowl on the south side of the courtyard. He put it at the southeast corner.
11 And Huram also made the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished the work he had started for King Solomon. Here’s what he made for God’s temple.
12 He made the two pillars.
He made the two tops for the pillars. The tops were shaped like bowls.
He made the two sets of chains that were linked together. They decorated the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars.
13 He made the 400 pomegranates for the two sets of chains. There were two rows of pomegranates for each chain. They decorated the bowl-shaped tops of the pillars.
14 He made the stands and their bowls.
15 He made the huge bowl. He made the 12 bulls that were under it.
16 He made the pots, shovels and meat forks. He also made all the things used with them.
Huram-Abi made all these objects for King Solomon for the Lord’s temple. He made them out of bronze. Then he shined them up. 17 The king had them made in clay molds. It was done on the plains of the Jordan River between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 18 Solomon made huge numbers of these things. There were too many of them to weigh. In fact, it was impossible to add up the weight of all the bronze.
19 Solomon also made all the objects that were in God’s temple.
He made the golden altar.
He made the tables for the holy bread.
20 He made the pure gold lampstands and their lamps. The lamps burned in front of the Most Holy Room, just as the law required.
21 He made the gold flowers. He made the gold lamps and tongs. They were made out of solid gold.
22 He made the wick cutters, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and shallow cups for burning incense. All of them were made out of pure gold. He made the gold doors of the temple. They were the inner doors to the Most Holy Room and the doors of the main hall.
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