A laver is a large basin filled with water that the priests used to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place and before serving at the altar (Exodus 30:17–21). In Solomon's temple, a large laver called the "molten sea" was between the altar of burnt offerings in the courtyard and the inner temple's entrance (1 Kings 7:23). The laver was the large basin and the pedestal it sat on (Exodus 30:18). It was made of bronze or brass, melted and shaped from mirrors of highly polished metal given by Israelite women (Exodus 38:8).
In Solomon’s temple, in addition to the molten sea, there were ten smaller lavers, five on each the north and south sides of the sanctuary (1 Kings 7:38–39). Each held 40 baths (1,211.2–1,665.4 liters, or 320–440 gallons), one-fiftieth the capacity of the large laver. The priests used the molten sea for their ritual washing. The ten lavers were for the sacrifices (2 Chronicles 4:6). Later, King Ahaz, for religious or financial reasons, severed the lavers and the sea from their bases. He placed them on a stone pediment (2 Kings 16:17). The prophet Jeremiah, during King Jehoiakim’s reign, predicted that the molten sea and the bases would be carried into Babylon (Jeremiah 27:19–22). This indeed happened, as recorded in Jeremiah 52:17. The text does not mention what happened to the ten small lavers. They were perhaps already melted down and sold.
In Ezekiel’s description of the future temple, there is no mention of a laver or molten sea (Ezekiel 40–42). However, the apostle John in Revelation 4:6 and 15:2 mentions a "sea of glass." This "sea of glass" might be similar to or bring to mind Solomon's molten sea.