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2 Crônicas 4

BLIVRE · Chapter 4/36

1Fez ademais um altar de bronze de vinte côvados de comprimento, e vinte côvados de largura, e dez côvados de altura.

2Também fez um mar de fundição, o qual tinha dez côvados do uma borda à outra, inteiramente redondo: sua altura era de cinco côvados, e uma linha de trinta côvados o contornava.

3E debaixo dele havia figuras de bois que o circundavam, dez em cada côvado todo ao redor: eram duas ordens de bois fundidos juntamente com o mar.

4E estava assentado sobre doze bois, três dos quais estavam voltados ao norte, e três ao ocidente, e três ao sul, e três ao oriente: e o mar assentava sobre eles, e todas suas traseiras estavam à parte de dentro.

5E tinha de espessura um palmo, e a borda era da feitura da borda de um cálice, ou flor de lírio. E fazia três mil batos.

6Fez também dez fontes, e pôs cinco à direita e cinco à esquerda, para lavar e limpar nelas a obra do holocausto; mas o mar era para os sacerdotes se lavarem nele.

7Fez também dez candelabros de ouro segundo sua forma, os quais pôs no templo, cinco à direita, e cinco à esquerda.

8Também fez dez mesas e as pôs no templo, cinco à direita, e cinco à esquerda: igualmente fez cem bacias de ouro.

9A mais disto fez o átrio dos sacerdotes, e o grande átrio, e as entradas do átrio, e cobriu as portas de elas de bronze.

10E assentou o mar ao lado direito até o oriente, em frente do sul.

11Fez também Hirão caldeiras, e pás, e bacias; e acabou Hirão a obra que fazia ao rei Salomão para a casa de Deus;

12Duas colunas, e os globos, os capitéis sobre as cabeças das duas colunas, e duas redes para cobrir as duas bolas dos capitéis que estavam encima das colunas;

13Quatrocentas romãs nas duas redes, duas ordens de romãs em cada rede, para que cobrissem as duas bolas dos capitéis que estavam encima das colunas.

14Fez também as bases, sobre as quais assentou as pias;

15O mar, e doze bois debaixo dele;

16E caldeiras, e pás, e garfos; e todos seus utensílios fez Hirão seu pai ao rei Salomão para a casa do SENHOR, de bronze puríssimo.

17E fundiu-os o rei nas planícies do Jordão, em terra argilosa, entre Sucote e Zeredá.

18E Salomão fez todos estes vasos em grande abundância, porque não pode ser achado o peso do bronze.

19Assim fez Salomão todos os vasos para a casa de Deus, e o altar de ouro, e as mesas sobre as quais se punham os pães da proposição;

20Assim os candelabros e suas lâmpadas, de ouro puro, para que as acendessem diante do compartimento interno conforme à costume.

21E as flores, e as lâmpadas, e as tenazes se fizeram completamente de ouro.

22Também os apagadores, e as bacias, e as colheres, e os incensários, de ouro puro. Quanto à entrada da casa, suas portas interiores para o lugar santíssimo, e as portas da casa do templo, de ouro.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The details of the temple's construction continue: the bronze altar, the great bronze tank called the 'sea,' the basins for washing, the golden lampstands, the tables, and all the utensils needed for the sacrifices and worship.

Explanation

Each utensil described had a specific ritual function within the sacrificial system established in the Law of Moses centuries earlier, showing continuity between the instructions given in the wilderness and their permanent application in the Jerusalem temple. The great bronze 'sea,' an enormous circular tank supported by twelve sculpted oxen, was used for the ritual purification of the priests, while the ten smaller basins were used to wash the animals designated for sacrifice. The quantity and variety of utensils made of pure gold, rather than just bronze or silver, reinforces the standard of material excellence Solomon sought in order to represent the greatness of God.

Fun facts

  • The 'bronze sea' had an estimated capacity of about 66,000 liters (roughly 17,000 gallons) of water, an impressive feat of engineering to be supported by only twelve cast bronze oxen statues.
  • All the bronze used in these structures was cast in clay molds on the plain of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zeredah, a large-scale casting technique documented here with unusual detail for ancient texts.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 4:1The bronze altar stands outside the temple, in the courtyard — considerably larger than the bronze sea described right after — and it is there that animal sacrifices were actually made.
  2. 2 Crônicas 4:2The “molten sea” was a giant bronze basin, resting on twelve carved oxen, used by the priests to wash before their service — quite different from the ten smaller basins, which were for washing the parts of the sacrifice. The size described is enormous for the standards of the time, the kind of piece that impressed anyone visiting the temple.
  3. 2 Crônicas 4:3Two rows of carved oxen decorated the base of the bronze sea underneath, a finishing detail on the giant piece described in the previous verse.
  4. 2 Crônicas 4:4The bronze sea rested on twelve carved oxen, three facing each direction — north, south, east, west — as if carrying that enormous tank on their backs.
  5. 2 Crônicas 4:5The rim of the bronze sea was worked like the rim of a cup or a lily blossom, and it held around sixteen thousand gallons of water — a monumental piece.
  6. 2 Crônicas 4:6Besides the bronze sea, ten smaller basins were used to wash the parts of the sacrificed animals, five on each side — a different function from the large basin, which was only for the priests to wash themselves.
  7. 2 Crônicas 4:7Ten gold lampstands, made following the traditional pattern, are placed in the temple, five on each side — more luxury repeated in series.
  8. 2 Crônicas 4:8Ten tables and a hundred gold basins complete the interior furnishings, also divided five to each side of the temple.
  9. 2 Crônicas 4:9Besides the main building, Solomon builds two courtyards — one reserved for the priests and a larger, open one — with doors overlaid in bronze.
  10. 2 Crônicas 4:10The bronze sea is positioned on the right side of the temple, facing southeast, a specific spot within the complex.
  11. 2 Crônicas 4:11Huram, the craftsman sent by Huram of Tyre, also makes pots, shovels, and basins, wrapping up the portion of the work he did on commission for Solomon.
  12. 2 Crônicas 4:12The list returns to the two bronze pillars at the entrance, with their bowls, capitals, and the decorative network covering those capitals — a summary of what was already described earlier.
  13. 2 Crônicas 4:13Four hundred bronze pomegranates, in two rows per network, decorated the pillars’ capitals — an exact number that shows the account’s care with these ornamental details.
  14. 2 Crônicas 4:14The smaller basins used for washing the sacrifices rested on their own stands, completing the set of courtyard furnishings.
  15. 2 Crônicas 4:15The account briefly mentions once more the bronze sea and the twelve oxen supporting it underneath.
  16. 2 Crônicas 4:16Pots, shovels, forks, and other utensils of polished bronze complete the list of what Huram-abi made for the temple at Solomon’s command.
  17. 2 Crônicas 4:17The king has these bronze pieces cast on the plain of the Jordan, in a clay-rich region between Succoth and Zeredathah — exactly the kind of ground suited to this casting work.
  18. 2 Crônicas 4:18The amount of bronze used was so great that no one even bothered weighing it exactly — a way of marking just how abundant the project’s resources were.
  19. 2 Crônicas 4:19The list of solid gold furnishings — tables, lampstands, forks, basins, even the door hinges — makes clear that luxury was in no short supply in the temple’s interior decoration. It was a concrete way of showing the place’s importance, not only through the building itself but through every object used inside it.
  20. 2 Crônicas 4:20The lampstands of purest gold stayed lit in front of the Most Holy Place, following the custom of keeping that light burning at all times.
  21. 2 Crônicas 4:21Decorative flowers, lamps, and wick trimmers, all of the highest-grade gold, complete the fine finish of these lampstands.
  22. 2 Crônicas 4:22Forks, basins, cups, and censers of purest gold, along with the inner doors of the Most Holy Place and the main entrance also overlaid with gold, close out the temple’s long list of luxury.

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