2 Tawarikh 9:1

Solomon Entertains a Queen

9:1 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.

2 Tawarikh 9:9

9:9 She gave the king 120 talents ⁸  of gold and a very large quantity of spices and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched. ⁹ 

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the report about Solomon.”

[9:1]  ² tn Or “test.”

[9:1]  ³ tn Heb “Solomon.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.

[9:1]  ⁴ tn Or “riddles.”

[9:1]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “with very great strength.” The Hebrew word חַיִל (khayil, “strength”) may refer here to the size of her retinue or to the great wealth she brought with her.

[9:1]  ⁷ tn Or “balsam oil.”

[9:9]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “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, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold was 8,076 lbs. (3,672 kg).

[9:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “there has not been like those spices which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”