Does the Bible say pi equals three? 1 Kings 7:23

The passages

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

1 Kings 7:23

The problem

For a circle, the circumference is pi times the diameter, about 3.14159. A basin ten cubits across should measure about 31.4 cubits around, not thirty. Taken at face value, the text gives pi as three.

What believers and scholars say

Rounding. Builders and writers in the ancient world used round numbers. Three is a fair working figure, and the text gives measurements to the nearest cubit. This is the simplest answer and probably the best.

Different measurements. Some commentators suggest that the diameter was taken from outer rim to outer rim while the line of thirty cubits measured the narrower body below a flared brim. Verse 26 says the wall was a handbreadth thick and the brim was shaped "like the brim of a cup", so the two measurements need not describe the same circle. Critics respond that this is a guess about an object no one has seen.

Not a geometry lesson. The description is of an object. It was not meant to define a ratio, and the Bible makes no claim about mathematics.

Where this leaves it

Most readers find the rounding or rim explanation sufficient. A few see it as evidence that the text reflects ordinary human knowledge. The numbers are the numbers the builders probably used, and neither reading threatens anything of substance in the story.