2 Chronicles 4:3

“Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast--The meaning is, that the circular basin and the brazen oxen which supported it were all of one piece, being cast in one and the same mould. There is a difference in the accounts given of the capacity of this basin, for while in Kg1 7:26 it is said that two thousand baths of water could be contained in it, in this passage no less than three thousand are stated. It has been suggested that there is here a statement not merely of the quantity of water which the basin held, but that also which was necessary to work it, to keep it flowing as a fountain; that which was required to fill both it and its accompaniments. In support of this view, it may be…”

“For “oxen” we find in 1 Kings 7:24, “knops” or “gourds.” An early copyist, not comprehending the comparatively rare word here used for “gourd,” and expecting to hear of oxen, as soon as the molten sea was mentioned, changed the reading. return to 'Top of Page'”

“And under: Kg1 7:24-26; Eze 1:10, Eze 10:14; Co1 9:9, Co1 9:10; Rev 4:7 oxen: In the parallel passage of Kings, instead of bekarim, "oxen," we have pekaim, "knops," in the form of colocynths. (See note on Kg1 6:18, and see note on Kg2 4:39); which last is supposed by able critics to be the reading which ought to received be here; bekarim, "oxen," being a mistake for pekaim, "knops." Houbigant, however, contends that the words in both places are right; but that bakar does not signify an ox here, but a large kind of grape, according to its meaning in Arabic. But Dr. A. Clarke states that bakar, or bakarat, has no such meaning in Arabic, though the phrase aino 'lbikri, or "ox-eye," signifies a…”