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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.

Furnishings for the Temple

Solomon[a] also made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.[b] Then he cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from rim to rim, called the Sea. It was 7 1⁄2 feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference.[c] It was encircled just below its rim by two rows of figures that resembled oxen. There were about six oxen per foot[d] all the way around, and they were cast as part of the basin.

The Sea was placed on a base of twelve bronze oxen, all facing outward. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east, and the Sea rested on them. The walls of the Sea were about three inches[e] thick, and its rim flared out like a cup and resembled a water lily blossom. It could hold about 16,500 gallons[f] of water.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1a Or Huram-abi; Hebrew reads He.
  2. 4:1b Hebrew 20 cubits [9.2 meters] long, 20 cubits wide, and 10 cubits [4.6 meters] high.
  3. 4:2 Hebrew 10 cubits [4.6 meters] across . . . 5 cubits [2.3 meters] deep and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] in circumference.
  4. 4:3 Or 20 oxen per meter; Hebrew reads 10 per cubit.
  5. 4:5a Hebrew a handbreadth [8 centimeters].
  6. 4:5b Hebrew 3,000 baths [63 kiloliters].