1Ki 7:23-26 | NETfull | STEP | He also made the large bronze basin called “The Sea.” It measured 15 feet from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet high. Its circumference was 45 feet.

1 Kings 7:23-26

23 He also made the large bronze basin called “The Sea.” ^{▼▼ Heb “He made the sea, cast.”} ^{▼▼ This large basin that was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (2 Chr 4:6; cf. Exod 30:17–21).} It measured 15 feet ^{▼▼ Heb “ten cubits.”} from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet ^{▼▼ Heb “five cubits.”} high. Its circumference was 45 feet. ^{▼▼ Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”} 24 Under the rim all the way around it ^{▼▼ Heb “The Sea.” The proper noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.} were round ornaments ^{▼▼ Or “gourd-shaped ornaments.”} arranged in settings 15 feet long. ^{▼▼ Heb “ten cubits surrounding the sea all around.” The precise meaning of this description is uncertain.} The ornaments were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” ^{▼▼ Heb “the gourd-shaped ornaments were in two rows, cast in its casting.”} 25 “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. ^{▼▼ Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”} 26 It was four fingers thick and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold about 12,000 gallons. ^{▼▼ Heb “two thousand baths” (a bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons).}