2nd Chronicles Chapter 4 verse 5 Holy Bible
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 received and held three thousand baths.
read chapter 4 in ASV
It was as thick as a man's open hand, and the edge of it was curved like the edge of a cup, like a lily flower; it would take three thousand baths.
read chapter 4 in BBE
And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; in capacity it held three thousand baths.
read chapter 4 in DARBY
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.
read chapter 4 in KJV
And the thickness of it was a hand-breadth, 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.
read chapter 4 in WBT
It was a handbreadth thick; and the brim of it was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.
read chapter 4 in WEB
And its thickness `is' a handbreadth, and its lip as the work of the lip of a cup flowered with lilies; taking hold -- baths three thousand it containeth.
read chapter 4 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - An handbreadth. Not זֶרֶת, "a span" (nevertheless tabled by Conder, 'Handbook to the Bible,' 2nd edit., p. 79, as a handbreadth, and put at eight digits, two palms, or 5.33 inches), but טֶפַח, "the palm of the open hand," the breadth of the four fingers, which Thenius puts at 3.1752 inches, but Conder's table at 2.66 inches. It received and held should be translated, it was able to hold. Three thousand baths. The parallel has two thousand baths, and this latter is the likelier reading. It is, however, conceivable that the statement of Kings may purport to give the quantity of water used, and that of Chronicles the quantity which the vessel at its fullest could accommodate. As to the real capacity of the bath, we are hopelessly at sea. Josephus's estimate of it is about eight gallons and a half, that of the rabbinists about four gallons and a half (see Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' 3:1742), and Conder, in the 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 80, a fractional quantity above six gallons. The largest bowls on the Assyrian bas-reliefs, the silver bowl of Croesus, and the bronze bowl in Scythia (Herodotus, 1:51; 4:81), did not, under the lowest estimate of the bath, hold as much as one-half of the contents of this vast sea of brass of Solomon. The use of this vessel was, as we read in the next verse, for the priests to wash in, or, as some would read, to wash at (Exodus 30:18-20).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) And the thickness . . . a cup.--Identical with 1Kings 7:26.With flowers of lilies.--See margin. "Lily" here is shoshann?h; in Kings, shosh?n. LXX., "graven with lily buds." Syriac and Arabic, "and it was very beautiful." Vulg., "like the lip of a cup, or of an open lily."And it received and held three thousand baths.--Literally, holding (whole) baths: three thousand would it contain. The bath was the largest of Hebrew liquid measures. Perhaps the true reading is, "holding three thousand baths," the last verb being a gloss borrowed from Kings. So Vulg. Syriac and Arabic omit the clause. The LXX. had the present reading. 1Kings 7:26 reads, two thousand baths would it contain. Most critics assume this to be correct. Some scribe may have read 'al?phim, "thousands," instead of 'alpayim, "two thousand," and then have added "three" (sh?l?sheth) under the influence of the last verse. But it is more likely that the numeral "three" having been inadvertently omitted from the text of Kings, the indefinite word "thousands" was made definite by turning it into the dual "two thousand" Either mistake would be possible, because in the unpointed text 'al?phim and 'alpayim are written alike. The Syriac has the curious addition, "And he made ten poles, and put five on the right and five on the left, and bare with them the altar of burnt offerings." Similarly the Arabic version.
