Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

2 CHRONICLES 3:15KJV
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2 Chronicles 3:15 (KJV)

What does 2 Chronicles 3:15 mean?

2 Chronicles 3:15 describes two imposing pillars made for the front of Solomon’s temple. The verse gives their height as thirty-five cubits and says each had a five-cubit “chapiter,” or decorative top. The measurements emphasize the scale of the temple’s entrance.

The narrator describes features placed before the temple house, where people would approach the building. A cubit was based on the length of a forearm; using a common estimate of about 18 inches, thirty-five cubits would be about 52½ feet.

The Hebrew behind 2 Chronicles 3:15

  • “chapiter” — צֶפֶת (tsefeth): This means a capital, the shaped piece at the top of a pillar. The KJV’s “chapiter” refers to that upper feature, not to the pillar’s shaft.

Why 2 Chronicles 3:15 matters

  • The pillars were distinct features at the temple entrance. In 2 Chronicles 3:17, Solomon sets one on the right and one on the left and gives each a name.
  • The measurements invite comparison with other accounts. First Kings 7:15 and 2 Kings 25:17 give each pillar’s height as eighteen cubits, while 2 Chronicles gives a figure of thirty-five cubits for the two pillars. Some understand Chronicles’ figure as their combined height, though the wording does not settle the question.

Where else these words appear

“pillars” Hebrew H5982 · used in 84 verses

  • Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
  • Exodus 39:33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,
  • 2 Kings 23:3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

“high” Hebrew H753 · used in 90 verses

  • Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
  • 1 Kings 6:3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.
  • Ezekiel 40:36 The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

“cubits” Hebrew H520 · used in 132 verses

  • Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
  • 1 Kings 6:16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.
  • Ezekiel 40:11 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.