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1 Kings 7:19

in 1 Kings 7

And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits.

KJV

And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

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This verse in 1 Kings 7

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
There is a cornice of (so-called) lilywork at Persepolis, consisting of three ranges of broadish rounded leaves, one over the other. Lilies are also represented with much spirit on a bas-relief from Koyunjik.

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.

This site's exposition

shaped like lilies, four cubits high

Albert Barnes points to a cornice of lily work at Persepolis, three rows of broad rounded leaves, and to lilies carved on a relief from Koyunjik. John Wesley reads the lily work as matching the ornament of the portico. Bede reads the lilies as the glory of heaven.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Of the Temple of Solomon 2.18.13 · Written before 735.

proposed

What else can the lilies mean but the glory of the heavenly homeland and the beauty of immortality fragrant with the flowers of paradise? What else can the four cubits mean but the word of the gospel, which promises us entry into eternal happiness and …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Lilly work - Made like the leaves of lillies. In the porch - Or, as in the porch; such work as there was in the porch of the temple, in which these pillars were set, ver. 21, that so the work of the tops of these pillars might agree with that in the top of the porch.
And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

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

The words behind it

10 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.

  • וְכֹֽתָרֹ֗תand [the] capitals

    vekhotarotH3805 →24 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • עַל־[were] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • רֹ֣אשׁ[the] top of

    roshH7218 →599 times

  • הָעַמּוּדִ֔יםthe pillars

    haamudimH5982 →111 times

  • מַעֲשֵׂ֖ה[were] a work of

    maasehH4639 →236 times

  • שׁוּשַׁ֣ןlili[es]

    shushanH7799 →13 times

  • בָּֽאוּלָ֑םin the porch

    baulamH197 →34 times

  • אַרְבַּ֖עfour

    ʾarba'H702 →318 times

  • אַמּֽוֹת׃cubits

    ʾamotH520 →247 times

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

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 Kings 6:32–35The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.2 works1 Kings 7:22And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.2 works1 Kings 6:18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.2 works1 Chronicles 28:15the weight of the gold lampstands and their lamps, including the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; the weight of each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand;2 works1 Kings 7:26It 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.2 works

The walk

1 stop

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

    1 Kings 6:18

    The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 7:24

      Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 7 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Of the Temple of Solomon 2.18.13; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil, The Books of the Kings.

Read on in 1 Kings 7 →