2 Chronicles 4:2-6

4:2 He also made the big bronze basin called “The Sea.” ¹  It measured 15 feet ²  from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven and one-half feet ³  high. Its circumference was 45 feet. ⁴  4:3 Images of bulls were under it all the way around, ten every eighteen inches ⁵  all the way around. The bulls were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” 4:4 “The Sea” stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. “The Sea” was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward. ⁶  4:5 It was four fingers thick and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold 18,000 gallons. ⁷  4:6 He made ten washing basins; he put five on the south side and five on the north side. In them they rinsed the items used for burnt sacrifices; the priests washed in “The Sea.”

2 Chronicles 4:12-18

4:12 He made ⁸  the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars, the latticework for the bowl-shaped tops of the two pillars, 4:13 the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework had two rows of these ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of the pillar), 4:14 the ten ⁹  movable stands with their ten ¹⁰  basins, 4:15 the big bronze basin called “The Sea” with its twelve bulls underneath, 4:16 and the pots, shovels, and meat forks. ¹¹  All the items King Solomon assigned Huram Abi to make for the Lord’s temple ¹²  were made from polished bronze. 4:17 The king had them cast in earthen foundries ¹³  in the region of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 4:18 Solomon made so many of these items they did not weigh the bronze. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “He made the sea, cast.”

² tn Heb “ten cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the diameter would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).

³ tn Heb “five cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 7.5 feet (2.25 m).

⁴ tn Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”

⁵ tn Heb “ten every cubit.”

⁶ tn Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”

⁷ tn Heb “3,000 baths” (note that the capacity is given in 1 Kings 7:26 as “2,000 baths”). A bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons (about 22 liters), so 3,000 baths was a quantity of about 18,000 gallons (66,000 liters).

⁸ tn The words “he made” are added for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tc The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (’asah, “he made”), which is probably a corruption of עֶשֶׂר (’eser, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).

¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text has עָשָׂה (’asah, “he made”), which is probably a corruption of עֲשָׂרָה (’asarah, “ten”; see 1 Kgs 7:43).

¹¹ tc Some prefer to read here “bowls,” see v. 11 and 1 Kgs 7:45.

¹² tn Heb “Huram Abi made for King Solomon [for] the house of the Lord.”

¹³ tn Or perhaps, “molds.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Solomon made all these items in great abundance; the weight of the bronze was not sought.”