^7:15He fashioned two bronze pillars; each pillar was 27 feet³² high and 18 feet³³ in circumference. ^7:16He made two bronze tops for the pillars; each was seven-and-a-half feet high.³⁴^7:17The latticework on the tops of the pillars was adorned with ornamental wreaths and chains; the top of each pillar had seven groupings of ornaments.³⁵^7:18When he made the pillars, there were two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments around the latticework covering the top of each pillar.³⁶^7:19The tops of the two pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies and were six feet high.³⁷^7:20On the top of each pillar, right above the bulge beside the latticework, there were two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments arranged in rows all the way around.³⁸^7:21He set up the pillars on the porch in front of the main hall. He erected one pillar on the right³⁹ side and called it Jakin;⁴⁰ he erected the other pillar on the left⁴¹ side and called it Boaz.⁴²^7:22The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the construction of the pillars was completed.

^7:23He also made the large bronze basin called “The Sea.”⁴³ It measured 15 feet⁴⁴ from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet⁴⁵ high. Its circumference was 45 feet.⁴⁶^7:24Under the rim all the way around it⁴⁷ were round ornaments⁴⁸ arranged in settings 15 feet long.⁴⁹ The ornaments were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.”⁵⁰^7:25“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.⁵¹^7:26It 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.⁵²

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Footnotes

32 Heb “eighteen cubits.”
33 Heb “twelve cubits.”
34 Heb “two capitals he made to place on the tops of the pillars, cast in bronze; five cubits was the height of the first capital, and five cubits was the height of the second capital.”
35 Heb “there were seven for the first capital, and seven for the second capital.”
36 Heb “he made the pillars, and two rows surrounding one latticework to cover the capitals which were on top of the pomegranates, and so he did for the second latticework.” The translation supplies “pomegranates” after “two rows,” and understands “pillars,” rather than “pomegranates,” to be the correct reading after “on top of.” The latter change finds support from many Hebrew and the ancient Greek version.
37 Heb “the capitals which were on the top of the pillars were the work of lilies, in the porch, four cubits.” It is unclear exactly what dimension is being measured.
38 Heb “and the capitals on the two pillars, also above, close beside the bulge which was beside the latticework, two hundred pomegranates in rows around, on the second capital.” The precise meaning of the word translated “bulge” is uncertain.
39 Or “south.”
40 The name Jakin appears to be a verbal form and probably means, “he establishes.”
41 Or “north.”
42 The meaning of the name Boaz is uncertain. For various proposals, see 126–27 בעז. One attractive option is to revocalize the name as בְּעֹז (be’oz, “in strength”) and to understand it as completing the verbal form on the first pillar. Taking the words together and reading from right to left, one can translate the sentence, “he establishes [it] in strength.”
43 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).
44 Heb “ten cubits.”
45 Heb “five cubits.”
46 Heb “and a measuring line went around it thirty cubits all around.”
47 Heb “The Sea.” The proper noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
48 Or “gourd-shaped ornaments.”
49 Heb “ten cubits surrounding the sea all around.” The precise meaning of this description is uncertain.
50 Heb “the gourd-shaped ornaments were in two rows, cast in its casting.”
51 Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”
52 Heb “two thousand baths” (a bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons).