Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 4:3
Below the rim, figures of oxen encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator documents the construction details of Solomon’s temple, specifically describing the specifications of the bronze Sea. The account lists architectural measurements and decorative features to record the basin’s physical design.
The words — The text employs דְּמוּת (də-mût) for "likeness" or "figures" and בְּקָרִים (bə-qārîm) for "oxen" to identify the cast motifs. These terms clarify that the encircling decorations were molded representations of cattle, arranged in two rows below the rim.
The thread — The identical measurement of "ten per cubit" appears in 1 Kings 7:24, which records ornamental buds encircling the same basin. The oxen motif reappears in 2 Chronicles 4:4, where twelve cast oxen physically support the Sea rather than merely decorate it.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to observe how precise measurements and repeated animal imagery establish the temple’s structural order. It asks the reader to note that sacred space was defined by deliberate, cast details rather than organic forms.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 7:24 Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- Ezekiel 1:10 The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle.
- Ezekiel 10:14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.
- 1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
- Revelation 4:7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.