1 Kings 10:1

Solomon Entertains a Queen

10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon,¹ she came to challenge² him with difficult questions.³

1 Kings 10:10

10:10 She gave the king 120 talents⁴ of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.⁵

1 Kings 10:25

10:25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules.⁶

¹tn Heb “the report about Solomon.” The Hebrew text also has, “to the name of the Lord,” which fits very awkwardly in the sentence. If retained, perhaps it should be translated, “because of the reputation of the Lord.” The phrase, which is omitted in the parallel passage in 2 Chr 9:1, may be an addition based on the queen’s declaration of praise to the Lord in v. 9.

²tn Or “test.”

³tn Or “riddles.”

⁴tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 9,000 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “five tons”; TEV “4,000 kilogrammes.”

⁵tn Heb “there has not come like those spices yet for quantity which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”

⁶tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”