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1 Kings 7:23

in 1 Kings 7

He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.

KJV

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

This verse in 1 Kings 7

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bede

Of the Temple of Solomon 2.19.1-3 · Written before 735.

"He also made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, completely round." This molten sea was made as a figure of the laver of salvation in which we are cleansed for the remission of our sins. For priests were washed in it, …

This site's exposition

a molten sea

on 1 Kings 7:23-26

The tabernacle's laver has grown into a sea: ten cubits across, five high, two thousand baths, standing on twelve oxen facing the four quarters, with a brim wrought like a lily cup. The given round numbers, ten across and thirty about, are the old arithmetic question; the bench answers it from the text's own detail that the sea was an hand breadth thick, so the line and the diameter measure different edges, and the page needs no more than that sentence. Twelve oxen under the water carry the same all-Israel signature as Elijah's twelve stones.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

A Sea - He melted the brass, and cast it into the form of a great vessel, for its vastness called a sea, which name is given by the Hebrew to all great collections of waters. The use of it was for the priests to wash their hands and feet, or other things as occasion required, with the water which they drew out of it.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Yet this prevailed not to prevent Jerusalem's setting up the calves for deities. In the court of the tabernacle there was only a laver of brass provided to wash in, but in the court of the temple a sea of brass, intimating that by the gospel of Christ much fuller preparation is made for our cleansing than was by the law of Moses.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The “molten sea “of Solomon, so called from its great size, took the place of the laver of the tabernacle Exo 30:18-21, which was required for the ablutions of the priests. It was ten cubits, or fully fifteen feet, in diameter at top, and therefore forty-seven feet in circumference, with a depth of 5 cubits, or 7 12 feet.

The words behind it

20 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.

  • וַיַּ֥עַשׂand he made

    vaiyaasH62132628 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַיָּ֖םthe sea

    haiyamH3220396 times

  • מוּצָ֑קcast [metal]

    mutzakH41654 times

  • עֶ֣שֶׂר[was] ten

    ʾeserH6235176 times

  • בָּ֠אַמָּהby the cubit

    baamahH520247 times

  • מִשְּׂפָת֨וֹfrom lip its

    misefatoH8193176 times

  • עַד־to

    ʾad-H57041261 times

  • שְׂפָת֜וֹlip its

    sefatoH8193176 times

  • עָגֹ֣ל׀round

    ʾagolH56966 times

  • סָבִ֗יבall around

    savivH5439336 times

  • וְחָמֵ֤שׁand [was] five

    vechameshH2568343 times

  • בָּֽאַמָּה֙by the cubit

    baamahH520247 times

  • קוֹמָת֔וֹheight its

    komatoH696745 times

  • וְקָו֙and a measuring-line

    ukevehH6957

  • שְׁלֹשִׁ֣יםthirty

    sheloshimH7970172 times

  • בָּֽאַמָּ֔הby the cubit

    baamahH520247 times

  • יָסֹ֥בit went round

    yasoH5437161 times

  • אֹת֖וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • סָבִֽיב׃all around

    savivH5439336 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

    2 Kings 25:13

    Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 36:18

      who carried off everything to Babylon—all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king and his officials.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Luke 2:37

      and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

    • 1 Samuel 2:22

      Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of…

    • Exodus 40:7

      And place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

    • 1 Timothy 5:5

      The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers.

    • Titus 3:5–6

      He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 18:8

    And from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea, the pillars, and various bronze articles.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 8:8

      And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:17

    Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 27:19–22

      For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city,

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Judgment of Solomon — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (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, Of the Temple of Solomon 2.19.1-3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.