He also made the Sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in shape, and its height was five cubits, and it was thirty cubits in circumference.
Parallel translations
- WEB He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
- 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.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
- NLT Then Huram cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from rim to rim, called the Sea. It was 7-1/2 feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hiram cast the molten sea, a huge round bronze basin ten cubits across and five high. It held water for priestly washing.
Overview
This great bronze basin, called the sea for its size, provided water for the priests' ceremonial cleansing. Its circumference of about thirty cubits relative to ten across has long been discussed; faithful readers note the figures are rounded approximations, not precise mathematical claims. The sea's purpose was purification, pointing to the cleansing from sin that God provides, fully accomplished in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 2 Kgs 25:13The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of brass that were in Yahweh’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house, and carried the brass pieces to Babylon.
- 2 Chr 4:2Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.
- Jer 52:17The Chaldeans broke the pillars of brass that were in Yahweh’s house, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house in pieces, and carried all of their brass to Babylon.
- Exod 30:18–21“You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
- Jer 52:20They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for Yahweh’s house. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.
- 1 Chr 18:8From Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took very much brass, with which Solomon made the bronze sea, the pillars, and the vessels of brass.
- Exod 38:8He made the basin of brass, and its base of brass, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
- 2 Kgs 16:17King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.
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Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
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Original language
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