What Does 1 Kings 7:26 Mean?
And it was a palm thick, and its lip was made like the lip of a cup, with blossoms of lilies. It contained two thousand baths.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.THE KEY
The basin’s capacity is named with the root of strength: its defining power is that it can hold.
THE MEANING
The basin has a handbreadth-thick wall, a rim worked like a cup and adorned with lilies, and room for two thousand baths. The verb behind “contained” also carries the sense of holding fast: its capacity is pictured as strength in action.
THE ROOT
יַחֲזִיק
yachazik
GROWS FROM
חזק
Be strong or firm; in this form, hold or contain.
English “contained” can sound like a label for volume, but יַחֲזִיק (yachazik, it holds) comes from חזק (chazaq, be strong or firm; hold fast). The basin’s capacity is strength expressed as holding: its formed boundary carries what fills it.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong; be firm.
חָזַק
The same root appears as “be of good courage” in Psalm 27:14, linking the basin’s capacity to hold with firmness.
hecheziq: Hold fast; take hold.
הֶחֱזִיק
This branch makes containment an active holding, rather than only a measure of volume.
THE PATTERN
A vessel’s form and boundary make its capacity concrete, whether it carries water or receives provision.
You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its stand also of bronze, for washing; and you shall set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall set waters in it.And six stone waterpots lay there, set for the cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet another vessel. And he said to her, There is not one more vessel. And the oil stood.THE THREAD
Be stretched toward the LORD; hold fast, and he makes your heart firm; be stretched toward the LORD.“Be of good courage” renders חֲזַק (chazaq, be strong or firm), the same root behind the basin’s “contained.” The shared root gives firmness two forms: a vessel holds water, and a person stands firm while waiting.
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