When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, ¹  she came to challenge ²  him with difficult questions. ³ 

“This commandment I am giving ¹  you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.

Get ready for a difficult task ¹  like a man; I will question you and you will inform me!

“Get ready for a difficult task ¹  like a man. I will question you and you will inform me!

How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! ¹  How vast is their sum total! ² 

“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me. ¹ 

They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ¹  and difficult language, ²  but ³  to the house of Israel –

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ¹  – surely if ²  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

And,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘though such a thing may seem to be difficult in the opinion of the small community of those days, will it also appear difficult to me?’ asks the Lord who rules over all.

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice ¹  the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵ 

Elijah ¹  replied, “That’s a difficult request! ²  If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

So remember ¹  your Creator in the days of your youth – before ²  the difficult ³  days come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” ¹ 

They will judge ¹  the people under normal circumstances, ²  and every difficult case ³  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁴  they themselves will judge, so that ⁵  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁶  and they will bear the burden ⁷  with you.

They ¹  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ²  and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ¹  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ²  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ³ 

His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ¹  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ²  you would have been willing to do it. ³  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁴ 

When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, ¹  she came to challenge ²  him ³  with difficult questions. ⁴  She arrived in Jerusalem ⁵  with a great display of pomp, ⁶  bringing with her camels carrying spices, ⁷  a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind.