2 Chronicles 4:5
in 2 Chronicles 4It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold three 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 received and held three thousand baths.
KJV
And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 4
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Three thousand baths - See 1Ki 7:23 note. It is quite possible that either here or in Kings the text may have been accidentally corrupted.
This site's exposition
a molten sea of ten cubits
on 2 Chronicles 4:2-5
The molten sea repeats 1 Kings 7 with two small differences the commentators note rather than resolve. Its capacity is given as three thousand baths against Kings' two thousand, and the oxen encircling it under the brim stand where Kings reads knops, likely gourds, a reading Barnes traces to an early copyist expecting oxen once the sea was named. Ten cubits across and five high, it stood for the priests' washing alone, apart from the ten lavers that follow it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The Holy Ghost by this signified, (1.) Our great gospel privilege, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, 1 John i. To us there is a fountain opened for all believers (who are spiritual priests, Rev. i. 5, 6 ), nay, for all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to wash in, from sin, which is uncleanness.
It was put just at the entrance into the court of the priests, like the font at the church door. If it were filled to the brim, it would hold 3000 baths (as here,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
It - held three thousand baths - In 1Ki 7:26, it is said to hold only two thousand baths. As this book was written after the Babylonish captivity, it is very possible that reference is here made to the Babylonish bath which might have been less than the Jewish. We have already seen that the cubit of Moses, or of the ancient Hebrews, was longer than the Babylonish by one palm; see on 2Ch 3:3 (note). It might be the same with the measures of capacity; so that two thousand of the ancient Jewish baths might have been equal to three thousand of those used after the captivity. The Targum cuts the knot by saying, “It received three thousand baths of dry measure, and held two thousand of liquid measure.
The words behind it
13 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 → | |
| וּשְׂפָתוֹ֙ | usefato | and lip its | H8193 → | 176 times |
| כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה | kemaaseh | [was] like [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| שְׂפַת־ | sefat- | [the] lip of | H8193 → | 176 times |
| כּ֔וֹס | kos | a cup | H3563 → | |
| פֶּ֖רַח | perach | [the] blossom of | H6525 → | |
| שֽׁוֹשַׁנָּ֑ה | shoshanah | a lily | H7799 → | |
| מַחֲזִ֣יק | machazik | holding | H2388 → | 291 times |
| בַּתִּ֔ים | batim | baths | H1324 → | 13 times |
| שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת | sheloshet | three | H7969 → | 432 times |
| אֲלָפִ֖ים | ʾalafim | thousand<s> | H505 → | 505 times |
| יָכִֽיל׃ ס | yakhil | it contained | H3557 → | 38 times |
וְעָבְי֣וֹand thickness its
veaveyoH5672 →
טֶ֔פַח[was] a hand breadth
tefachH2947 →
וּשְׂפָתוֹ֙and lip its
usefatoH8193 →176 times
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה[was] like [the] work of
kemaasehH4639 →236 times
שְׂפַת־[the] lip of
sefat-H8193 →176 times
כּ֔וֹסa cup
kosH3563 →
פֶּ֖רַח[the] blossom of
perachH6525 →
שֽׁוֹשַׁנָּ֑הa lily
shoshanahH7799 →
מַחֲזִ֣יקholding
machazikH2388 →291 times
בַּתִּ֔יםbaths
batimH1324 →13 times
שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁתthree
sheloshetH7969 →432 times
אֲלָפִ֖יםthousand<s>
ʾalafimH505 →505 times
יָכִֽיל׃ סit contained
yakhilH3557 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
1 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.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 7:38
He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.
- 1 Kings 6:35
He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings.
- Ezekiel 45:14
The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (a cor consists of ten baths or one homer, since ten baths are equivalent to a…
- Jeremiah 52:21
Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.
- 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.
- 1 Kings 7:38
About 2 Chronicles
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.