Gray states in his commentary (pages 183-184) that verse 20 is “unintelligible” and that “It is very doubtful if the verse as it stands yields sense.” Good News Translation gives a reasonable meaning, although it seems to say the rounded section was above the chain design. But this seems strange since the chain design was on the capitals.

The rounded projection renders a Hebrew word that means “belly” or “womb” in other contexts. Here it is a technical architectural term whose meaning is uncertain. Cogan (2000, page 263) says “No satisfactory suggestion has been made to identify the ‘belly’ of the capital.” It may refer to a bulging section on the column just below the capital. It may be rendered “the bowl-shaped section” (New Century Version) or “the bulge” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

There were two hundred pomegranates, in two rows round about; and so with the other capital: The Hebrew is literally “two hundred pomegranates in rows round about on the second capital.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “There were 200 pomegranates in rows around the top of the second capital” and explains in a footnote that the meaning of the last phrase is “each of the two capitals.”

New International Version provides a helpful model for this whole verse as follows:

• On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .