Under it were figures of gourds, for thirty cubits …: A comparison of several versions will show that interpreters are not sure what the intended meaning of this verse is. Some versions, including Revised Standard Version, are based on corrections of the Hebrew text to agree with the parallel passage of 1 Kgs 7.24, which is quite different from the Masoretic Text here. A literal translation of the Masoretic Text here in verse 3 reads as follows: “And likeness of oxen under it around around going around it ten in a cubit encircling the sea around, two rows the oxen being cast with casting of it.”
Like Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible harmonizes this verse with that in 1 Kgs 7.24 by saying “Under the Sea, on every side, completely surrounding the thirty cubits of its circumference, were what looked like gourds, two rows of them, cast in one piece with the Sea itself.” Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible have gourds instead of “oxen” and thirty cubits instead of “ten in a cubit.” Einheitsübersetzung changes the Masoretic Text to read “thirty cubits,” but keeps the word “bulls” rather than changing it to “gourds.”
Perhaps the writer of 2 Chronicles misunderstood the text of 1 Kgs 7.24, reading the Hebrew peqaʿim (“gourds”) as beqarim (“oxen”). Or possibly the writer deliberately changed what he copied from 1 Kgs 7.24 so that the decorations with oxen, rather than with gourds, would match the supporting base (see verse 4). If the Masoretic Text is followed, Good News Translation is one possible way of making sense of the very difficult text. All of the ancient versions except the Syriac, which does not translate this verse nor verse 5 at all, support the Masoretic Text here. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament argues that the author of 2 Chronicles deliberately changed the text to read “oxen” instead of “gourds” and that translators should not try to correct the Masoretic Text here by assuming that the author misread his source text or a later scribe miscopied the text.
It is not clear how the Hebrew words for “ten in a cubit” are to be understood. New International Version, for example, renders the whole verse as “Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit. The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.” According to this translation, there were ten figures of bulls every half meter (18 inches), all the way around the tank just below the rim. Contemporary English Version is similar with “Its outer edge was decorated with two rows of carvings of bulls, ten bulls to every eighteen inches, all made from the same piece of metal as the bowl.” This same interpretation is found in numerous versions (also New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, La Bible du Semeur, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, El libro del Pueblo de Dios); and this seems to be the best way to express the sense of the Hebrew. Compare also “twenty per meter” (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Peregrino.
Referring to recent archaeological discoveries, which show that tanks had square bases and round openings on top, Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the bottom part of the tank was rectangular, having four sides, and the top part of the tank was round. If this understanding is followed, then the sense is not that there were ten figures of oxen every cubit, but rather that the square bottom of the tank was made of panels, each ten cubits wide. This understanding is apparently the basis for the New Revised Standard Version rendering, which says “Under it were panels all around, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast.” This translation is also influenced by the description of the ten bronze carts in 1 Kgs 7.27-39, which says that Huram made panels for these carts that each held a basin.
Cast with it when it was cast means that the gourds (or figures of bulls) were not cast separately and then fastened to the tank. Rather, the mold included the gourds or bulls with the tank as one piece. Others may find it necessary to say “made together at the same time” or “joined together at their creation.” See also New International Version‘s model above.
Based on the interpretation suggested by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, the following translation of this verse is recommended:
• And figures of oxen went around under the tank and a panel of ten cubits held up the sea on each side, and the two rows of the oxen were cast in one piece with the rest of the tank.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .