Hebrew word · H4350

מְכוֹנָה

hamekhonot

base

A base, stand or fixed place. It comes from the root kun, 'to be firm, established, set up'. In Kings and Chronicles it nearly always means the ten bronze stands of Solomon's temple.

Appears 24 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

fixed resting place, base, pedestal

Also means: me.khu.nah (מְכֻנָה "base" H4369)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Chronicles 4:14

Range of meaning

A base, stand or fixed place. It comes from the root kun, 'to be firm, established, set up'. In Kings and Chronicles it nearly always means the ten bronze stands of Solomon's temple. Elsewhere it means a 'place' or foundation: in Ezra 3:3 the altar is set 'on its base', and in Zechariah 5:11 the basket is set 'on its base' in Shinar.

Against the English

'Stand' (BSB, NIV, ESV) and 'base' (KJV, WEB, YLT) are both accurate. Neither tells a reader that these were large wheeled carts, about 4 × 4 × 3 cubits (roughly 1.8 × 1.8 × 1.35 m), with bronze wheels and side panels decorated with lions, oxen, cherubim and palm trees (1 Kings 7:27–37). Some versions, NLT among them, render the word as 'water carts' to give that picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

The full description is in 1 Kings 7:27–37. The Greek Septuagint often does not translate the word and simply spells it out as mechōnōth, a sign the translators had no ready Greek equivalent for the object. Archaeology has turned up small bronze wheeled stands with figured panels from Cyprus (12th–11th centuries BCE, e.g. from Enkomi and Larnaca). They are widely cited as close smaller relatives of Solomon's stands.

From the study of 2 Kings 25:13

Range of meaning

A stand or base, something that is set in place. It comes from the root kûn, 'to be firm, set up'. In the temple texts it means the ten wheeled bronze carts that carried basins.

Against the English

KJV 'bases' sounds like foundations or pedestals to a modern reader. They were elaborate bronze carts on wheels, about 4 by 4 by 3 cubits, each carrying a basin, and decorated with lions, bulls and cherubim (1 Kings 7:27–37). NIV's 'movable stands' and NLT's 'water carts' get the picture across better.

How it drifted

'Base' was a fair 1611 rendering of the root idea, but it no longer suggests a moving object.

Used elsewhere in the period

Described in 1 Kings 7:27–39. Small bronze wheeled stands of a similar type have been found on Cyprus (Late Bronze Age), which helps us picture the much larger temple versions. King Ahaz had already stripped their side panels and removed the basins to pay tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 16:17).

Where it appears

1 Kings · 15

  1. 1 Kings 7:27 הַמְּכֹנ֛וֹת הַמְּכוֹנָ֣ה the stands, the stand

    In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

  2. 1 Kings 7:28 הַמְּכוֹנָ֖ה the stand

    This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights,

  3. 1 Kings 7:30 לַמְּכוֹנָ֤ה [belonged] to the stand

    Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

  4. 1 Kings 7:32 בַּמְּכוֹנָ֑ה [were] on the stand

    There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

  5. 1 Kings 7:34 הַמְּכֹנָ֖ה הַמְּכֹנָ֖ה the stand

    Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.

  6. 1 Kings 7:35 הַמְּכוֹנָ֗ה הַמְּכֹנָה֙ the stand

    At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high. The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

  7. 1 Kings 7:37 הַמְּכֹנ֑וֹת the stands

    In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

  8. 1 Kings 7:38 הַמְּכוֹנָ֣ה הַמְּכֹנֽוֹת׃ the stand, the stands

    He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

  9. 1 Kings 7:39 הַמְּכֹנ֔וֹת the stands

    He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

  10. 1 Kings 7:43 הַמְּכֹנ֖וֹת הַמְּכֹנֽוֹת׃ the stands

    the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands;

2 Kings · 3

  1. 2 Kings 16:17 הַמְּכֹנ֗וֹת the stands

    King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

  2. 2 Kings 25:13 הַמְּכֹנ֞וֹת the stands

    Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.

    Here: The ten wheeled bronze stands that each carried a water basin for the temple's washing (1 Kings 7:27–39). They were carts, not foundations.

  3. 2 Kings 25:16 וְהַמְּכֹנ֔וֹת and the stands

    As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 4:14 הַמְּכֹנ֖וֹת הַמְּכֹנֽוֹת׃ the stands

    the stands; the basins on the stands;

    Here: The ten wheeled bronze carts that held the large basins. The word comes from a root meaning 'set firm, establish': the thing a basin is set on.

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 3:3 מְכ֣וֹנֹתָ֔יו foundations its

    They set up the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD—both the morning and evening burnt offerings—even though they feared the people of the land.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 27:19 הַמְּכֹנ֑וֹת the stands

    For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city,

  2. Jeremiah 52:17 הַמְּכֹנ֞וֹת the stands

    Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

  3. Jeremiah 52:20 הַמְּכֹנ֔וֹת the stands

    As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.