
Era 6 · The First Kings2 Chronicles
The Bronze Sea, Basins and Lampstands
"A molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim"
"Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof." "Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim… it received and held three thousand baths."
"He made also ten lavers… 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." "And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to their form."

Huram makes the pots, shovels and basins. "In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah." "Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished."
3,000 or 2,000 baths
2 Chronicles 4:5 says 3,000 baths; 1 Kings 7:26 says 2,000. See the 1 Kings passage page, which shows both.
The bronze altar
Kings does not describe the bronze altar's size (only mentions it, 1 Kings 8:64). Chronicles gives it as 20 × 20 × 10 cubits.
Ten lampstands
The tabernacle had one lampstand; Solomon's temple ten. The menorah image here is a modern reconstruction by the Temple Institute, not an ancient object.
What the evidence shows
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 and 1 Kings 7:26 differ (3,000 vs 2,000 baths).
- The pictured lampstand is ancient. It is a modern reconstruction.
Continue the journey
Journey of a Passage1 Kings 7:23–26: The bronze Sea: 2,000 or 3,000 baths?1 Kings 7:26 says the Sea held 2,000 baths; 2 Chronicles 4:5 says 3,000.More from this lesson
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The parallel.
- The tabernacle lampstand.