The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

JEREMIAH 52:20KJV
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Jeremiah 52:20 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 52:20 mean?

Jeremiah 52:20 describes the enormous amount of bronze in objects made for the Lord’s house, the temple built by King Solomon. The verse is part of an account of the Babylonians taking the temple’s metal objects away after capturing Jerusalem. The bronze was too plentiful to be weighed.

The “sea” was a large basin, not a body of water. The “brasen bulls” were bronze animal figures associated with the temple equipment. After the account of objects being taken away, this verse names major pieces and gives a sense of their size and weight.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 52:20

  • “sea” — יָם (yam): This word often means a sea or a large body of water. Here the name is used for a very large basin in the temple.
  • “brass” — נְחֹשֶׁת (neḥoshet): This word can refer to copper or a copper alloy such as bronze. “Bronze” is the usual name for the metal understood in this setting.
  • “weight” — מִשְׁקָל (mishqal): This word refers to weight or a measured amount. “Without weight” means the amount of bronze was beyond weighing, not that the objects were weightless.

Why Jeremiah 52:20 matters

  • The verse connects the objects to Solomon’s temple: they were things he had “made in the house of the LORD.” Their removal is part of the account of what happened to that temple when Jerusalem fell.
  • The verse shifts attention from a count of objects to the sheer amount of metal. Its final phrase, “without weight,” emphasizes the scale of the bronze taken.
  • The nearby measurements help readers picture the pillars as major structures. Verses 21–23 describe their height, thickness and decorated tops.

Where else these words appear

“bases” Hebrew H4350 · used in 18 verses

  • 1 Kings 7:27 And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
  • 1 Kings 7:35 And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
  • 2 Kings 25:13 And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

“weight” Hebrew H4948 · used in 42 verses

  • Genesis 24:22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
  • Numbers 7:67 His offering was one silver charger, the weight whereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:
  • 1 Chronicles 22:14 Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.

“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.

“brasen” Hebrew H5178 · used in 119 verses

  • Genesis 4:22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
  • Deuteronomy 8:9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
  • 1 Chronicles 22:16 Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.