Under its brim were gourds: Under its brim means “around the outer edge of the rim of the tank” (Good News Translation). As the end of the verse makes clear, the gourds were made of bronze as was the rest of the tank. Good News Translation moves this information forward and says “bronze gourds.” These were, of course, not really gourds, but bronze figures that looked like gourds. For the word gourds, see the comments at 1 Kgs 6.18.

Thirty cubits: The Hebrew reads “ten in a cubit” or “ten cubits” (Anchor Bible). Thirty cubits is a correction of the text, based on the assumption that the gourds went all around the tank (30 cubits) and not just a third of the way (10 cubits). Other translations that correct the Hebrew to read thirty include Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible. But the Hebrew makes sense when understood to mean “ten [gourds] per cubit.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh interprets this to mean “gourds … ten to a cubit.” Compare also “there were twenty per meter” (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). If this interpretation is correct, there would have been three hundred gourds around the rim of the tank, that is ten times thirty. Compare “There were about six gourds per foot” (New Living Translation). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text and recommends a translation like that found in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament discusses the difficulty but does not rate the Masoretic Text since the changes that some scholars suggest should be made to the Masoretic Text are based on exegetical difficulties rather than on differences in the ancient manuscripts.

Cast with it when it was cast means that these gourds were not cast separately and then fastened to the tank. Rather, the mold included the gourds with the tank as one piece. Gray says “cast in the same mould.” Others may find it necessary to say something like “made together at the same time.”

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 .