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Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits[a] long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high. Also he made the molten sea[b] of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference. Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast. It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.
  2. 4:2 or, pool, or, reservoir
  3. 4:5 A bath is about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21.1 liters, so 3,000 baths is about 16,800 gallons or 63.3 kiloliters.

Solomon’s temple equipment

He[a] also made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high. Then he made a tank of cast metal called the Sea. It was circular in shape, fifteen feet from rim to rim, seven and a half feet high, and forty-five feet in circumference. Under the rim were two rows of oxlike figures completely encircling it, ten every eighteen inches, each cast in its mold. The Sea rested on twelve oxen with their backs toward the center, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea was as thick as the width of a hand. Its rim was shaped like a cup or an open lily blossom. It could hold three thousand baths.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 4:1 Solomon or Huram; this ambiguity with the pronoun continues in the following verses, but compare 2 Chron 3:1, 3; 4:11. If Huram is meant, this is a worker whose name is spelled Hiram in 1 Kgs 7:13-14.
  2. 2 Chronicles 4:5 One bath is approximately twenty quarts or five gallons.

The Temple’s Furnishings(A)

He made a bronze altar(B) twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.[a] He made the Sea(C) of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits[b] high. It took a line of thirty cubits[c] to measure around it. Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.[d] The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east.(D) The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. It was a handbreadth[e] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 4:1 That is, about 30 feet long and wide and 15 feet high or about 9 meters long and wide and 4.5 meters high
  2. 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
  3. 2 Chronicles 4:2 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters
  4. 2 Chronicles 4:3 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
  5. 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
  6. 2 Chronicles 4:5 That is, about 18,000 gallons or about 66,000 liters