2 Kings 25:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וּשְׂבָכָ֨ה

sᵉbâkâh

H7639

“and · network”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 16× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at 1 Kings 7:17

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7638

TWOT: 2230b

network, lattice-work, net, netting - lattice - net-ornament (on pillars) - network, toils (for catching animals)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

26: words
16: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּשְׂבָכָ֨ה network H7639 — appearing just 16 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּשְׂבָכָ֨ה network H7639 occurs in 12 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

17 nouns
5 adjectives
1 pronoun
3 prepositions

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אַמָּ֜ה cubit H520 ×3
וְכֹתֶ֨רֶת capital H3805 ×3
עָלָ֥יו upon H5921 ×3
קוֹמַ֣ת height H6967 ×2
הָעַמּ֣וּד pillar H5982 ×2
נְחֹשֶׁת֮ bronze H5178 ×2
וּשְׂבָכָ֨ה network H7639 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 48 words from the Hebrew and 50 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 26 Hebrew tokens and 42 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Kings 25:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Kings 7:15–22 For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about.
Jeremiah 52:21–23 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness of it was four fingers: it was hollow.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Kings 25:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

שְׁמֹנֶה֩ עֶשְׂרֵ֨ה אַמָּ֜ה קוֹמַ֣ת הָעַמּ֣וּד הָאֶחָ֗ד וְכֹתֶ֨רֶת עָלָ֥יו נְחֹשֶׁת֮ וְקוֹמַ֣ת הַכֹּתֶרֶת֮ שָׁלֹ֣שׁ אמה אַמּוֹת֒ וּשְׂבָכָ֨ה וְרִמֹּנִ֧ים עַֽל הַכֹּתֶ֛רֶת סָבִ֖יב הַכֹּ֣ל נְחֹ֑שֶׁת וְכָאֵ֛לֶּה לַֽעַמּ֥וּד הַשֵּׁנִ֖י עַל הַשְּׂבָכָֽה

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Kings 25:17 Septuagint · lemma form

ὀκτωκαίδεκα πῆχυς ὕψος ὁ στῦλος ὁ εἷς καί ὁ χωθαρ ἐπί αὐτός ὁ χαλκοῦς καί ὁ ὕψος ὁ χωθαρ τρεῖς πῆχυς σαβαχα καί ῥοά ἐπί ὁ χωθαρ κύκλος ὁ πᾶς χαλκοῦς καί κατά ὁ αὐτός ὁ στῦλος ὁ δεύτερος ἐπί ὁ σαβαχα

The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was of brass: and the height of the chapiter was three cubits: the border, and the pomegranates on the chapiter round about were all of brass: and so it was with the second pillar with its border.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

תַּמְנֵי עַסְרֵי אַמִין רוּמֵיהּ דְעַמוּדָא חָד וּקְרוּנְתְּהוֹן עֲלוֹהִי דִנְחָשָׁא וְרוּמָא דִקְרוּנְתְּהוֹן תְּלַת אַמִין וּסְרִגְתָּא וְרִמוֹנַיָא עַל קְרוּנְתְּהוֹן סְחוֹר סְחוֹר כּוֹלָא נְחָשָׁא וּכְאִלֵין לְעַמוּדָא תִנְיָנָא עַל סְרִגְתָּא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Kings 25:17 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

2Ki 25:17 The height of the one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it [was] brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.

Ver. 17. The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits.] The height evinceth the weight; immensum erat pondus; such as was that of the Turks’ great ordinance used against the Rhodes, drawn by thirty-eight yoke of oxen, and fitly called the basilisk. {a}

{a} Turk. Hist.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

25:17 7½ feet is 5 cubits, a reading taken from parallel texts (see NLT note). The Hebrew text reads 3 cubits (4.5 feet), which might reflect the height of the decorative work adorning the upper part of the capital (cp. 1 Kgs 7:17-18).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) Three cubits.—An error of transcription for five. Five cubits was the height of the capital according to 1Ki_7:16; Jer_52:22; 2Ch_3:15.

The wreathen work.—Lattice-work (1Ki_7:17).

With wreathen work.—Upon the lattice-work. Thenius says this is the residuum of a sentence preserved in Jeremiah—namely, “And the pomegranates were ninety and six towards the outside; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the lattice-work round about” (Jer_52:23). Our text is, at any rate, much abridged.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

17. and the chapiter upon it was brass] R.V. and a chapiter of brass was upon it. The sentence is not meant to state of what material the chapiter was, but that it was there on the top of the pillar.

wreathen work] R.V. network. Twice over the change is needed in this verse, to correspond with the rendering of A.V. in 1Ki_7:18; 1Ki_7:20; 1Ki_7:41-42.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare with this description the accounts in marginal references. The height of the capital (“three cubits”) must be corrected, in accordance with those passages, to “five cubits.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

17. The height of the one pillar — To justify or explain the last remark, the writer here mentions the size and great ornamentation of the pillars.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The height of the one pillar wee eighteen cubits. comp. 1Ki_7:15 and, Jer_52:21, in which latter place an even more elaborate account of the pillars is given) and the chapiter upon it was brass; rather, and there was a chapiter (or capital) upon it of brassand the height of the chapiter three cubits. The measure given, both in 1Ki_7:16 and Jer_52:22, is five cubits," which is generally regarded as correct; but the proportion of 3 to 18, or one-sixth, is far more suitable for a capital than that of 5 to 18, or between a third and a fourth. And the wreathen work rather, and there was wreathen work, or networkand pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: (comp. 1Ki_7:18, 1Ki_7:19) and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. The ornamentation of the second pillar was the same as that of the first. (see Jer_52:22)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

The height of the crown was three amohs. And in the beginning of the Book [of Melochim] it states, ”five amohs [high].” I reconciled the verses there. high but its two lower amohs are not counted because the column was inserted into the crown two amohs deep and it served as a base for the crown.

And a netting. (Coife, in O.F.) a type of hat.

Had the same. Pomegranates.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 26 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is sᵉbâkâh (“network”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “network” (sᵉbâkâh) shape what this verse is saying?
How does 1 Kings 7:17, which shares the word «network», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “cubit” (3× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 26 Hebrew ↔ 42 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 15 words in this verse.
“cubit” occurs 3× in this single verse.
16 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 26 words in this verse.