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Jeremiah 52:21

in Jeremiah 52

Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

KJV

And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

This verse in Jeremiah 52

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits,.... As in 1Ki 7:15; said to be thirty five, 2Ch 3:15; of the reconciliation of which; see Gill on 2Ch 3:15, and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; a thread or line of that measure encompassed each of the pillars, 1Ki 7:15; and the thickness thereof was four fingers; either of the pillar, or the fillet about it; that is, the brass of it was four fingers thick: it was hollow; that is, the pillar was hollow.

This site's exposition

the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord

on Jeremiah 52:17-23

The temple's bronze work is stripped and shipped to Babylon piece by piece, the two great pillars 1 Kings 7:21 names Jachin and Boaz, the molten sea, and the twelve bulls that carried it, Solomon's own craftsmanship undone in the same measurements it was first recorded in. The pillar's exact dimensions are repeated here, eighteen cubits, network and pomegranates round about, the bench reading the precision as the appendix's own care to record exactly what was lost rather than only that it was lost. The listing reads as an inventory rather than a lament, brass, silver, and gold accounted for vessel by vessel before the chapter turns to the people themselves.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The fillet means a measuring line; the pillars were 12 cubits, i. e., 18 feet, in circumference, and thus the diameter would be 5 feet 9 inches. As the brass was four fingers, i. e., scarcely four inches thick, the hollow center would be more than five feet in diameter.

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וְהָעַמּוּדִ֗יםand the pillars

    vehaamudimH5982111 times

  • שְׁמֹנֶ֨ה[was] eight-

    shemonehH8083109 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֤הteen

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • אַמָּה֙cubit[s]

    ʾamahH520247 times

  • קוֹמַת֙[the] height of

    komahH6967

  • הָעַמֻּ֣דthe pillar

    haamudH5982111 times

  • הָאֶחָ֔ד<the> one

    haechadH259971 times

  • וְח֛וּטand a line of

    vechutH2339

  • שְׁתֵּים־two [plus]

    sheteim-H8147768 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֥הten

    ʾesrehH6240338 times

  • אַמָּ֖הcubit[s]

    ʾamahH520247 times

  • יְסֻבֶּ֑נּוּit goes round it

    yesubenuH5437161 times

  • וְעָבְי֛וֹand thickness its

    veaveyoH5672

  • אַרְבַּ֥ע[was] four

    ʾarba'H702318 times

  • אַצְבָּע֖וֹתfingers

    ʾatzbaotH676

  • נָבֽוּב׃hollow

    navuvH5014

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

The walk

2 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 25:17

    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.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 7:15–22

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

    • Jeremiah 52:21–23

      Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.

Where this verse is studied

About Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophet Jeremiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.