2 Tawarikh 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.”

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “He made the sea, cast.”

[4:2]  sn The large bronze basin known as “The Sea” was mounted on twelve bronze bulls and contained water for the priests to bathe themselves (see v. 6; cf. Exod 30:17-21).

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “ten cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the diameter would have been 15 feet (4.5 m).

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “five cubits.” Assuming a cubit of 18 inches (45 cm), the height would have been 7.5 feet (2.25 m).

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “ten every cubit.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”

[4:5]  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).