4:1 他又製造一座銅壇,長二十肘,寬二十肘,高十肘;
4:2 又鑄一個銅海,樣式是圓的,高五肘,徑十肘,圍三十肘;
4:3 海周圍有野瓜(野瓜:原文是牛)的樣式,每肘十瓜,共有兩行,是鑄海的時候鑄上的;
4:4 有十二隻銅牛馱海:三隻向北,三隻向西,三隻向南,三隻向東;海在牛上,牛尾向內;
4:5 海厚一掌,邊如杯邊,又如百合花,可容三千罷特;
4:6 又製造十個盆:五個放在右邊,五個放在左邊,獻燔祭所用之物都洗在其內;但海是為祭司沐浴的。
He made a bronze
altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.[a] 2 He
made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to
rim and five cubits[b] high.
It took a line of thirty cubits[c] to
measure around it. 3 Below the rim, figures of bulls
encircled it—ten
to a cubit.[d] The
bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.
4 The Sea stood on twelve
bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three
facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward
the center. 5 It was a handbreadth[e] in
thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held
three thousand baths.[f]
6 He then made ten basins
for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them
the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to
be used by the priests for washing.
******************
在這裡讓我們看見聖殿中的「海」,其功用是給祭司沐浴之用。表示獻祭之前,祭司和寄物都要洗清潔。而下面提到的尺寸供參考用:
●「二十肘」:10.4公尺。
●「十肘」:5.2公尺。
●「三十肘」:15.6公尺。
●「一掌」:約7.4公分。
●「罷特」:約22公升。