Brasen, Brass, Brazen

BRASEN, BRASS, BRAZEN (נְחֹ֫שֶׁת֒, H5733, with cognates; χαλκός, G5910, with cognates). Copper or copper alloys such as brass or bronze. The KJV tr. consistently as brass or brasen, and once as copper (Ezra 8:27). Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, appeared much later than bronze, and there is little evidence for its use in Biblical times. Copper, found in the southern part of Pal. appeared in the fifth millennium b.c. Most, if not all, of the Biblical references should be read as bronze or copper, prob. the former where casting is involved. RSV uses bronze throughout, except in metaphorical uses where brass is retained to express hardness or a similar idea (e.g., Lev 26:19; Isa 48:4). Copper and bronze were used for a wide range of household goods, weapons, and cultic objects, including the overlaying of the altar, the brazen sea, and the lavers.