1 Kings 7:26
in 1 Kings 7It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it was a handbreadth thick: and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.
KJV
And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
⋯
This verse in 1 Kings 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verseFor by the brim of a cup is expressed the taste of the Lord's passion, and by the leaf of a crisped lily the glory of his resurrection is openly revealed. For that the chalice of his passion is indicated in the cup is attested …
This site's exposition
the Sea of cast metal
on 1 Kings 7:23-26
The tabernacle’s basin has grown into a Sea “ten cubits from rim to rim”. It holds “two thousand baths” and stands on twelve oxen. The older commentators answer the old question of ten across and thirty around: “It was a handbreadth thick”, so the two figures measure different edges.
This site's exposition
It could hold two thousand baths.
Albert Barnes puts the handbreadth at a little over three inches, and he pictures the rim curving outward like a drinking cup or a lily. Bede reads the cup as the Lord's passion. The lily is his resurrection.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And it was an hand breadth thick,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The palm or hand-breadth seems to have a little exceeded three inches. With flowers of lilies - Rather, “in the shape of a lily flower.” The rim was slightly curved outward, like the rim of an ordinary drinking-cup, or the edge of a lily blossom. See 2Ch 4:5 margin.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he made a molten sea--In the tabernacle was no such vessel; the laver served the double purpose of washing the hands and feet of the priests as well as the parts of the sacrifices.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעָבְי֣וֹ | veaveyo | and thickness its | H5672 → | |
| טֶ֔פַח | tefach | [was] a hand breadth | H2947 → | |
| וּשְׂפָת֛וֹ | usefato | and lip its | H8193 → | 176 times |
| כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה | kemaaseh | [was] like [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| שְׂפַת־ | sefat- | [the] lip of | H8193 → | 176 times |
| כּ֖וֹס | kos | a cup | H3563 → | |
| פֶּ֣רַח | perach | [the] blossom of | H6525 → | |
| שׁוֹשָׁ֑ן | shoshan | lili[es] | H7799 → | 13 times |
| אַלְפַּ֥יִם | ʾalpayim | two thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
| בַּ֖ת | bat | bath[s] | H1324 → | |
| יָכִֽיל׃ פ | yakhil | it contained | H3557 → | 38 times |
וְעָבְי֣וֹand thickness its
veaveyoH5672 →
טֶ֔פַח[was] a hand breadth
tefachH2947 →
וּשְׂפָת֛וֹand lip its
usefatoH8193 →176 times
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה[was] like [the] work of
kemaasehH4639 →236 times
שְׂפַת־[the] lip of
sefat-H8193 →176 times
כּ֖וֹסa cup
kosH3563 →
פֶּ֣רַח[the] blossom of
perachH6525 →
שׁוֹשָׁ֑ןlili[es]
shoshanH7799 →13 times
אַלְפַּ֥יִםtwo thousand
ʾalpayimH505 →505 times
בַּ֖תbath[s]
batH1324 →
יָכִֽיל׃ פit contained
yakhilH3557 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 52:21Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 25:17
Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. The bronze capital atop one pillar was three cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its network, was similar.
- 1 Kings 7:15–21
He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.
- 2 Chronicles 3:15–17
In front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits.
- 2 Kings 25:17
Through
1 Kings 7:38He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:10
They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.
- 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- Exodus 30:17–21
And the LORD said to Moses,
- Zechariah 13:1
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
- Exodus 38:8
Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- Hebrews 9:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Of the Temple of Solomon 2.19.8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).