New Revised Standard Version
Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

Contemporary English Version
The sides of the bowl were 75 millimeters thick, and its rim was like a cup that curved outward like flower petals. The bowl held about 40,000 liters.

New American Bible
It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand baths.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the laver was a hand breadth thick: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily: it contained two thousand bates.

And the laver was a hand breadth thick: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily: it contained two thousand bates.

an hand breadth

Jeremiah 52:21 And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.

with flowers

1 Kings 7:19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars, were of lily work, in the porch of four cubits.

1 Kings 6:18,32,35 And all the house was covered within with cedar, having the turnings, and the joints thereof artfully wrought, and carvings projecting out: all was covered with boards of cedar: and no stone could be seen in the wall at all. . . .

16,000 gallons. Besides this great brazen laver, there were in the temple ten lavers of brass of a less size, which moved on wheels, and were ornamented with the figures of various animals, having, probably, always some relation to the cherubim. These lavers were to hold water for the use of the priests in their sacred office, particularly to wash the victims that were to be offered as a burnt offering, as we learn from

2 Chronicles 4:6 He made also ten lavers: and he set five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things as they were to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

; but the {brazen sea} was for the priest to wash in. The {knops} are supposed to have been in the form of an ox's head (

2 Chronicles 4:3 And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows.

;) and some think the water flowed out at their mouths.

two thousand

1 Kings 7:38 He made also ten lavers of brass: one laver contained four bates, and was of four cubits: and upon every base, in all ten, he put as many lavers.

2 Chronicles 4:5 Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped lily: and it held three thousand measures.

Ezekiel 45:14 The measure of oil also, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core.