2 Chronicles 3 · Verse 4

2 Chronicles 3:4

And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
2 Chronicles 3:4, King James Version

2 Chronicles 3:4 in other translations

BSBThe portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.
WEBThe porch that was in front, its length, across the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
ASVAnd the porch that was before the house, the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
YLTAs to the porch that is on the front, the length is by the front of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty, and he overlayeth it within with pure gold.
DARBYAnd the porch which was in front was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
BBEAnd the covered way in front of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and a hundred and twenty cubits high, all plated inside with the best gold.
WebsterAnd the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the hight was a hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

What does 2 Chronicles 3:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. the porch--The breadth of the house, whose length ran from east to west, is here given as the measure of the length of the piazza. The portico would thus be from thirty to thirty-five feet long, and from fifteen to seventeen and a half feet broad. the height was an hundred and twenty cubits--This, taking the cubit at eighteen inches, would be one hundred eighty feet; at twenty-one inches, two hundred ten feet; so that the porch would rise in the form of a tower, or two pyramidal towers, whose united height was one hundred twenty cubits, and each of them about ninety or one hundred five feet high [Stieglitz]. This porch would thus be like the propylæum or gateway of the palace of Khorsabad [Layard], or at the temple of Edfou.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 The height was a hundred and twenty - Some think this should be twenty only; but if the same building is spoken of as in 1Kgs 6:2, the height was only thirty cubits. Twenty is the reading of the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Septuagint in the Codex Alexandrinus. The MSS. give us no help. There is probably a mistake here, which, from the similarity of the letters, might easily occur. The words, as they now stand in the Hebrew text, are מאה ואשרים meah veesrim, one hundred and twenty. But probably the letters in מאה meah, a hundred, are transposed for אמה ammah, a cubit, if, therefore, the א aleph be placed after the מ mem, then the word will be מאה meah one hundred; if before it the word will be אמה ammah, a cubit; therefore אמה עשרים ammah esrim will be twenty cubits; and thus the Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint appear to have read. This will bring it within the proportion of the other measures, but a hundred and twenty seems too great a height.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

2 Chronicles 3:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְהָאוּלָ֡םve.ha.'u.Lamand the porchH197
אֲשֶׁר֩'a.SherwhichH834
עַל\־'al-[was] onH5921
פְּנֵ֨יpe.Nei[the] face ofH6440
הָאֹ֜רֶךְha.'O.rekhthe lengthH753
עַל\־'al-onH5921
פְּנֵ֤יpe.Nei[the] face ofH6440
רֹֽחַב\־ro.chav-[the] breadth ofH7341
הַבַּ֙יִת֙ha.Ba.yitthe houseH1004
אַמּ֣וֹת'a.Mot[was] cubitsH520
עֶשְׂרִ֔ים'es.RimtwentyH6242
וְהַגֹּ֖בַהּve.ha.Goahand the heightH1363
מֵאָ֣הme.'Ah[was] one hundredH3967
וְעֶשְׂרִ֑יםve.'es.Rimand twentyH6242
וַיְצַפֵּ֥הוּvay.tza.Pe.huand he overlaid itH6823
מִפְּנִ֖ימָהmi.pe.Ni.mahfrom withinH6441
זָהָ֥בza.HavgoldH2091
טָהֽוֹר\׃ta.HorpureH2889

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Chronicles 3:4

  • John 10:23

    And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

  • Acts 5:12

    And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

  • Acts 3:11

    And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the porch.
Joh 10:23; Ac 3:11; 5:12
an hundred and twenty.As the height of the temple was only thirty cubits, 120 seems too great a height for the porch; but the Syriac, Arabic, and the LXX. in the codex Alexandrinus, have only twenty, probably reading, instead of {maiah weesrim,} "one hundred and twenty," {ammoth esrim,} "twenty cubits;" which brings it within the proportion of the other measures.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 2 Chronicles 3:3

    Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

  • 2 Chronicles 3:4

    And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

  • 2 Chronicles 3:5

    And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.

Read all of 2 Chronicles 3

2 Chronicles 3:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El pórtico que estaba en la delantera de la longitud, era de veinte codos al frente del ancho de la casa, y su altura de ciento y veinte: y cubriólo por dentro de oro puro.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et le portique qui était devant avait 20 coudées de longueur, selon la largeur de la maison; et sa hauteur était de 120 coudées; et il le recouvrit à l’intérieur d’or pur.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und die Halle, welche der Länge nach vor der Breite des Hauses war, zwanzig Ellen, und die Höhe120; und er überzog sie inwendig mit reinem Golde.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Porticum vero ante frontem, quæ tendebatur in longum juxta mensuram latitudinis domus, cubitorum viginti: porro altitudo centum viginti cubitorum erat: et deauravit eam intrinsecus auro mundissimo.