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1 Kings 7:15

in 1 Kings 7

He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about.

KJV

For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

This verse in 1 Kings 7

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits

on 1 Kings 7:15-22

The two freestanding pillars are dressed like a garden, chain work, two hundred pomegranates in rows, lily work at the crown, Eden's vocabulary cast in brass at the temple door. They are named at 7:21, Jachin, he shall establish, and Boaz, in him is strength, a sentence a worshipper read every time he went in, and Boaz is also the name of Ruth's redeemer in David's own line. The narrator will inventory these same pillars broken in pieces and carried to Babylon at 2 Ki 25:13-17, and the naming here is what makes that later verse land.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Homilies on the Gospels 2.25 · Written before 735.

proposed

Hence it is good that we are told that two bronze pillars of excellent and marvelous work were set up in this porch and that capitals worked to resemble lilies were placed on top of them. The pillars stood in front of the door of …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

For he cast two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

two pillars of brass of eighteen cubits high--They were made of the brass (bronze) which was taken from the king of Zobah (1Ch 18:8). In 2Ch 3:15 they are said to have been thirty-five cubits high. There, however, their joint lengths are given; whereas here the length of the pillars is given separately.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

He cast two pillars - eighteen cubits high - That is, about thirty feet in English measure. A line of twelve cubits - In circumference. It would be difficult even now to procure a founder who could cast such massive pillars, whether solid or hollow.
These famous pillars, which were broken in pieces by the Babylonians when they destroyed Jerusalem 2Ki 25:13; Jer 52:17, were probably for ornament, standing by themselves under or in front of the porch. It is certain that the Phoenicians used isolated metal columns as sacred ornaments, so that Hiram would be familiar with such a mode of ornamentation. Eighteen cubits appear to have been the height of the shaft only.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

The two columns. Which he placed at the entrance hall, 21 He placed them at the entrance to the Temple’s hall. See v. 21 below. Yachin and Bo’az.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 7:15:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
A coppersmith. A craftsman. 18 I.e., an expert in his trade, in the works of copper. The Chirom mentioned here is not King Chirom mentioned earlier [above:15].
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 7:14:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיָּ֛צַרand he fashioned

    vaiyatzarH669638 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • שְׁנֵ֥י[the] two

    sheneiH8147768 times

  • הָעַמּוּדִ֖יםthe pillars

    haamudimH5982111 times

  • נְחֹ֑שֶׁתbronze

    nechoshetH5178140 times

  • שְׁמֹנֶ֨ה[was] eight-

    shemonehH8083109 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֜הteen

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • אַמָּ֗הcubit[s]

    ʾamahH520247 times

  • קוֹמַת֙[the] height of

    komatH696745 times

  • הָעַמּ֣וּדthe pillar

    haamudH5982111 times

  • הָאֶחָ֔ד<the> one

    haechadH259971 times

  • וְחוּט֙and a line of

    vechutH2339

  • שְׁתֵּים־two [plus]

    sheteim-H8147768 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֣הten

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • אַמָּ֔הcubit[s]

    ʾamahH520247 times

  • יָסֹ֖בit went round

    yasoH5437161 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָעַמּ֥וּדthe pillar

    haamudH5982111 times

  • הַשֵּׁנִֽי׃<the> second

    hasheniH8145156 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 52:13

    He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 36:19

      Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.

    • Psalms 79:1

      The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

    • Micah 3:12

      Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

    • Lamentations 2:7

      The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of…

    • 2 Kings 25:9

      He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

  • Through

    1 Kings 7:21

    Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 3:17

      Then he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south and one on the north. The pillar on the south he named Jachin, and the pillar on the north…

    • 1 Kings 6:3

      The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:21

    Each 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.

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

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, Homilies on the Gospels 2.25; F. W. Farrar, The First Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil, The Books of the Kings.