1 Kings 7:26
New International Version
It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

New Living Translation
The walls of the Sea were about three inches thick, and its rim flared out like a cup and resembled a water lily blossom. It could hold about 11,000 gallons of water.

English Standard Version
Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

Berean Standard Bible
It 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.

King James Bible
And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

New King James Version
It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained two thousand baths.

New American Standard Bible
And it was a hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.

NASB 1995
It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.

NASB 1977
And it was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.

Legacy Standard Bible
And it was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.

Amplified Bible
It was a hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

Christian Standard Bible
The basin was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held eleven thousand gallons.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The reservoir was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held 11,000 gallons.

American Standard Version
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 held two thousand baths.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And its thickness was a hands breadth, and its rim was like the rim of a cup with the fruit of lilies, and it held two thousand baths.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and its rim was as the work of the rim of a cup, a lily-flower, and the thickness of it was a span.

Contemporary English Version
The sides of the bowl were 75 millimeters thick, and its rim was like a cup that curved outward like flower petals. The bowl held about 40,000 liters.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the laver was a handbreadth thick: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily: it contained two thousand bates.

English Revised Version
And it was an handbreadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The pool was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, shaped like a lily's bud. It held 12,000 gallons.

Good News Translation
The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a lily. The tank held about 10,000 gallons.

International Standard Version
The reservoir, which held about 2,000 baths, stood about a handbreadth thick, and its rim looked like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And it was a hand-breadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

Literal Standard Version
And its thickness [is] a handbreadth, and its edge [is] as the work of the edge of a cup, [as] flowers of lilies; it contains two thousand baths.

Majority Standard Bible
It 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.

New American Bible
It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand baths.

NET Bible
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.

New Revised Standard Version
Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

New Heart English Bible
It was almost three inches thick: and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it was a hand-breadth thick, and its brim was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

World English Bible
It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

Young's Literal Translation
And its thickness is an handbreadth, and its edge as the work of the edge of a cup, flowers of lilies; two thousand baths it containeth.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Molten Sea
25The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. 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.

Cross References
Exodus 25:25
And make a rim around it a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.

1 Kings 7:25
The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

1 Kings 7:27
In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

2 Chronicles 4:5
It 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.


Treasury of Scripture

And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was worked like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

an hand breadth

Jeremiah 52:21
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.

with flowers

1 Kings 7:19
And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

1 Kings 6:18,32,35
And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen…

2 Chronicles 4:6
He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them: such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

2 Chronicles 4:3
And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast.

two thousand

1 Kings 7:38
Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.

2 Chronicles 4:5
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.

Ezekiel 45:14
Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer:

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Baths Blossom Breadth Brim Contained Containeth Cup Curved Edge Flower Flowers Hand Handbreadth Hand-Breadth Held Hold Lily Rim Thereof Thick Thickness Thousand Work Worked Wrought
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Baths Blossom Breadth Brim Contained Containeth Cup Curved Edge Flower Flowers Hand Handbreadth Hand-Breadth Held Hold Lily Rim Thereof Thick Thickness Thousand Work Worked Wrought
1 Kings 7
1. The building of Solomon's house
2. Of the house of Lebanon
6. Of the porch of pillars
7. Of the porch of judgment
8. Of the house for Pharaoh's daughter
13. Hiram's work of the two pillars,
23. Of the molten sea
27. Of the ten bases
38. Of the ten lavers
40. and all the vessels














Verse 26. - And it was a handbreadth thick [i.e., three inches], and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup [Heb. and his lip like the work of the lip of a cup, i.e., curved outwards], with flowers of lilies [lit., "a blossom of lily." Keil understands "ornamented with lily flowers," but the strict interpretation the "lily blossom" being in apposition to "cup" - requires us to refer the words to the shape rather than to the ornamentation of the laver. The lip was curved like a lily]: it contained two thousand [In Chronicles and by Josephus the number is given as 3000. This may have resulted, as Keil thinks, from confounding ג and ב but it is suspicious that so many of the numbers of the Chronicles are exaggerations. The common explanation of the discrepancy, viz., that it held 2000 baths "when filled to its ordinary height, but when filled to the brim 3000" (Wordsworth), appears to me hardly ingenuous] baths. ["The data for determining the value of the bath or ephah are both scanty and conflicting" (Dict. Bib. 3. p. 1741). Josephus, the only authority on the subject, says that it equalled the Attic metretes (about 8.5 gals.), but it is very doubtful whether he was "really familiar with the Greek measures" (ib.) At any rate, if this statement is correct, his other statement as to the shape of the laver must be altogether erroneous, since 2000 baths would equal 17,000 gals., and a hemispherical laver could not possibly have contained more than 10,000. The attempt has been made, on the assumption that the sea was a hemisphere, as Josephus affirms, to calculate from its capacity the value of the bath, which in that case would be about four gallons. But there is good reason for doubting whether the laver was hemispherical - such a shape would be ill adapted to its position on the backs of oxen - and some have maintained that it was cylindrical, others that, like the laver of the tabernacle, it had a foot (Exodus 30:18) or basin. The prevailing opinion of scholars, however, appears to be that it was 30 cubits in circumference only at the lip, and that it bellied out considerably below. While the shape, however, must remain a matter of uncertainty, we are left in no doubt as to its purpose. It was "for the priests to wash in" (2 Chronicles 4:6) - not, of course, for immersing their whole persons, but their hands and feet (Exodus 30:19, 21). The priests (after Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15, etc.) ministered barefoot. It was, according to Rabbinical tradition, provided with taps or faucets (Bahr). It has, however, been held by some that the water issued forth (as in the Alhambra) from the lions' mouths. It is probable that a basin of some sort was attached to it. Whether the laver was filled by the hand or by some special contrivance, it is quite impossible to say. We know that provision was made for storing water hard by. The present writer was privileged in 1861 to explore the great reservoir, the Bahr el Khebir, still existing underneath the Haram area, at a time when very few Europeans had seen it (see Pal. Explor. Fund, No. 7; Barclay, "City of the Great King;" Porter, Handbook, 1. pp. 134, 138). The water was probably brought from Solomon's pools at Bethlehem, though "a fountain of water exists in the city and is running unto this day, far below the surface" ("Our Work in Palestine," p. 103). Tacitus mentions the fens perennis aquae and the piscinae cisternaeque servandis imbribus.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
It was a handbreadth
טֶ֔פַח (ṭe·p̄aḥ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2947: A spread of the hand, a palm-breadth, a corbel

thick,
וְעָבְי֣וֹ (wə·‘ā·ḇə·yōw)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5672: Density, depth, width

and its rim
וּשְׂפָת֛וֹ (ū·śə·p̄ā·ṯōw)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 8193: The lip, language, a margin

was fashioned
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה (kə·ma·‘ă·śêh)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property

like the brim
שְׂפַת־ (śə·p̄aṯ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8193: The lip, language, a margin

of a cup,
כּ֖וֹס (kō·ws)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3563: A cup, a lot, some unclean bird, an owl

like a lily
שׁוֹשָׁ֑ן (šō·wō·šān)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 7799: A lily, as a, flower of architectural ornament, a, trumpet

blossom.
פֶּ֣רַח (pe·raḥ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6525: A calyx, bloom

It could hold
יָכִֽיל׃ (yā·ḵîl)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3557: To keep in, to measure, to maintain

two thousand
אַלְפַּ֥יִם (’al·pa·yim)
Number - md
Strong's 505: A thousand

baths.
בַּ֖ת (baṯ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1324: A bath (a Hebrew measure)


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OT History: 1 Kings 7:26 It was a handbreadth thick: and its (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 7:25
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