2 Chronicles 4 — The bronze sea and sanctuary vessels — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 4 — The bronze sea and sanctuary vessels
The bronze altar and the sea
Verse 4:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:1] He made a bronze altar, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:1] He made the bronze altar, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The altar's material and three dimensions agree.
Verse 4:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:2] He made the cast sea, ten cubits from rim to rim, round all around, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits encircled it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:2] He made the cast sea, ten cubits in diameter, round all around, and five cubits high, with a circumference of thirty cubits.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Greek directly states circumference where Hebrew describes an encircling line. Both retain the same measurements without a modern geometric correction.
Verse 4:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:3] Figures of cattle beneath it encircled it all around, ten to a cubit, surrounding the sea. The cattle were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:3] Likenesses of calves were beneath it, circling it all around; ten cubits surrounded the basin. They cast the calves in two groups when they were cast,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew gives ten figures per cubit; Greek says ten cubits and calls the sea a basin. Greek's two-groups casting construction is compressed and uncertain, retained without changing it into the Hebrew passive two-row clause.
Verse 4:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:4] It stood upon twelve cattle: three faced north, three west, three south, and three east. The sea was above them, with all their hindquarters inward.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:4] in which they made them, twelve calves: three looking north, three looking west, three looking south, and three looking east. The sea was above them, with their hindquarters inward.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek continues the previous casting clause rather than Hebrew's initial stood upon. Both give twelve supports with three facing each direction; cattle correspond to Greek calves.
Verse 4:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:5] Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its rim was made like a cup's rim, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths in capacity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:5] Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its rim was like a cup's rim, carved with lily shoots, holding three thousand metretes. He completed it.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek explicitly adds completion and describes carved lily shoots. Hebrew liquid capacity is in baths; Greek names metretes. The same number does not establish an exact equivalence between units.
Basins, lampstands, and courts
Verse 4:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:6] He made ten basins and placed five on the right and five on the left, for washing in them. They rinsed in them the preparations for the burnt offering, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:6] He made ten basins and placed five on the right and five on the left, to wash and rinse in them the preparations for the whole burnt offerings. The sea was for the priests to wash in.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both distinguish washing sacrificial preparations in the ten basins from priestly washing in the sea.
Verse 4:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:7] He made ten golden lampstands according to their prescribed form and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:7] He made ten golden lampstands according to their ordinance and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The material, count, prescription, and arrangement agree.
Verse 4:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:8] He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He made a hundred golden sprinkling basins.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:8] He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He made a hundred golden bowls.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The tables and quantities agree. Hebrew specifies sprinkling basins; Greek uses a general bowl term.
Verse 4:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:9] He made the priests' court, the great enclosure, and doors for the enclosure, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:9] He made the priests' court, the great court, and doors for the court, with their doorways covered in bronze.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek uses court for both spaces and doorway language at the end. Both describe the bronze-covered access points.
Verse 4:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:10] He placed the sea on the right-hand side toward the east, facing south.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:10] He placed the sea at the house's right-hand corner, facing toward the east.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek adds the house's corner and omits the Hebrew southward qualification. The directional descriptions are not forced into one layout.
The completed metalwork and vessels
Verse 4:11 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:11] Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. Hiram finished doing the work he did for King Solomon in God's house:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:11] Chiram made the meat hooks, fire pans, the altar's grate, and all its vessels. Chiram finished doing all the work he performed for Solomon the king in God's house:
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek has a different equipment list and explicitly adds the altar grate and all its vessels. Hebrew alternates Huram and the displayed written Hiram within this verse; Greek has Chiram both times.
Verse 4:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:12] the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals upon the pillars' tops, and the two networks covering the two bowls of the capitals upon the pillars' tops;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:12] two pillars, with golath for the chothareth upon the tops of the two pillars, and two networks covering the heads of the chothareth that are upon the pillars' tops;
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek retains golath and chothareth as borrowed architectural forms where Hebrew has bowls and capitals. Its description of heads and its placement of two are preserved without importing the full Hebrew repeated formula.
Verse 4:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:13] the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, covering the two bowls of the capitals upon the pillars;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:13] four hundred golden bells for the two networks, and two groups of pomegranates on each network, covering the two golath of the chothareth above the pillars.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew's four hundred pomegranates become Greek four hundred golden bells, followed by an additional pomegranate-group description. Greek explicitly specifies gold and retains the borrowed architectural names.
Verse 4:14 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:14] He made the stands and made the basins upon the stands;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:14] He made ten mechonoth and made the basins upon the mechonoth,
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek explicitly numbers the stands as ten and retains mechonoth as a borrowed term; Hebrew gives no number in this verse.
Verse 4:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:15] the one sea and the twelve cattle beneath it;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:15] and the one sea and the twelve calves beneath it,
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The numbers and supporting arrangement agree, with cattle/calves as the species-age expression.
Verse 4:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:16] Huram his father made the pots, shovels, forks, and all their vessels for King Solomon for YHWH's house, of polished bronze.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:16] and the foot pieces, lifting tools, cauldrons, meat hooks, and all their vessels, which Chiram made and brought up to King Solomon in the Lord's house, of pure bronze.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek omits his father, adds bringing the equipment up, and has a longer tool list. Foot pieces and lifting tools provisionally render rare Greek equipment terms without pretending their exact forms are settled. Hebrew polished bronze corresponds to Greek pure bronze.
Verse 4:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:17] The king cast them in the Jordan plain, in the thick soil between Succoth and Zeredathah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:17] The king cast them in the Jordan region, in the thick earth, in the house of Sokchoth and between Sirdatha.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has a straightforward between-two-places construction. Greek has in the house of Sokchoth and an incomplete between expression with Sirdatha; the awkward geography is retained without correction.
Verse 4:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:18] Solomon made all these vessels in very great abundance, for the bronze's weight was not investigated.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:18] Solomon made all these vessels in very great abundance, because the supply of bronze by weight did not run out.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew says the bronze was not weighed out or investigated; Greek says its weight did not fail or run out. Both explain abundance, but the reason is expressed differently.
Verse 4:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:19] Solomon made all the vessels of God's house, the golden altar, and the tables with the bread of the Presence upon them;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:19] Solomon made all the vessels of the Lord's house, the golden altar, and the tables with the bread of presentation upon them;
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew God's house corresponds to Greek Lord's house. Presence-bread and presentation-bread are the respective source expressions.
Verse 4:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:20] the lampstands and their lamps to burn according to the prescribed rule before the inner sanctuary, of refined gold;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:20] the lampstands and the lamps for light according to the ordinance before the dabir, of pure gold,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek retains dabir for the Hebrew inner sanctuary and says lamps for light rather than explicitly to burn. No absence of flame is inferred from that expression.
Verse 4:21 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:21] the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold—of the most perfect gold;
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:21] and their tongs, their lamps, the bowls, the incense cups, and the fire pans of pure gold;
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek omits flowers and gives a longer equipment list, including items corresponding to the next Hebrew verse. The purity emphasis is differently expressed; source-unit placement is retained.
Verse 4:22 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 4:22] the snuffers, sprinkling basins, cups, and fire pans of refined gold; and the house's entrance, its inner doors to the Holy of Holies and the doors of the house's temple, of gold.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 4:22] and the inner door of the house into the Holy of Holies, for the golden doors of the temple house.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek has no separate opening equipment list here, after giving overlapping items in verse twenty-one. Its door construction is compressed and partly singular; Hebrew lists the entrance and plural inner and temple doors. No equipment is duplicated to force alignment.