2 Chronicles 4 · a question people ask
Two thousand baths, or three thousand?
Some details differ between the two books, and the Bible doesn't explain them. 2 Chronicles says, "It received and held three thousand baths" (4:5). 1 Kings says, "It held two thousand baths" (1 Kings 7:26). 2 Chronicles has "Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it" (4:3), and 1 Kings has "Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it" (1 Kings 7:24). The king cast the bronze "between Succoth and Zeredah" (4:17) in 2 Chronicles, and "between Succoth and Zarethan" (1 Kings 7:46) in 1 Kings. Much else is the same: "ten cubits from brim to brim" (2 Chronicles 4:2; 1 Kings 7:23), the twelve oxen facing north, west, south and east (2 Chronicles 4:4; 1 Kings 7:25), and the brim "like the flower of a lily" (2 Chronicles 4:5; 1 Kings 7:26). The Bible gives both accounts, and this answer sets them side by side without joining them.
The verses
“The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.”
“The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.”
“Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.”