And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

2 CHRONICLES 3:16KJV
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2 Chronicles 3:16 (KJV)

What does 2 Chronicles 3:16 mean?

2 Chronicles 3:16 describes decorations made for the pillars at Solomon’s temple. Chains were placed at the tops of the pillars, with a hundred pomegranates attached. The verse presents the pillars as carefully decorated parts of the temple entrance, not just supports.

The “heads” are the upper parts of the pillars mentioned in verse 15. The pomegranates were fruit-shaped decorations. The KJV’s phrase “as in the oracle” compares the chains with those associated with the temple’s inner room.

The Hebrew behind 2 Chronicles 3:16

  • “oracle” — דְּבִיר (devir): This word can refer to the innermost room of the temple. In the KJV, “oracle” here names a place rather than a spoken message.
  • “heads” — רֹאשׁ (rosh): This word often means “head” or “top.” Here it identifies the upper parts of the pillars where the chains were placed.

Why 2 Chronicles 3:16 matters

  • The verse connects the decoration of the pillars with the temple’s inner room. The phrase “as in the oracle” makes that comparison.
  • The number gives a sense of the scale of the decoration. “An hundred pomegranates” were placed on the chains, making the fruit shapes a repeated feature rather than a single detail.
  • The pillars also had individual names. Verse 17 calls the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

Where else these words appear

“chains” Hebrew H8333 · used in 5 verses

  • Exodus 28:14 And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.
  • Exodus 39:15 And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold.
  • 1 Kings 7:17 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.

“oracle” Hebrew H1687 · used in 16 verses

  • 1 Kings 6:5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
  • 1 Kings 6:22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
  • 1 Kings 8:8 And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.

“pomegranates” Hebrew H7416 · used in 25 verses

  • Exodus 28:33 And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:
  • 1 Samuel 14:2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
  • Song of Solomon 6:7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

“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.