2 Chronicles 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.

Genesis 43:11

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Exodus 30:34

30:34 The Lord said to Moses: “Take ⁸  spices, gum resin, ⁹  onycha, ¹⁰  galbanum, ¹¹  and pure frankincense ¹²  of equal amounts ¹³ 

[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.”

[30:34]  ⁸ tn The construction is “take to you,” which could be left in that literal sense, but more likely the suffix is an ethical dative, stressing the subject of the imperative.

[30:34]  ⁹ sn This is from a word that means “to drip”; the spice is a balsam that drips from a resinous tree.

[30:34]  ¹⁰ sn This may be a plant, or it may be from a species of mollusks; it is mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian; it gives a pungent odor when burnt.

[30:34]  ¹¹ sn This is a gum from plants of the genus Ferula; it has an unpleasant odor, but when mixed with others is pleasant.

[30:34]  ¹² tn The word “spice is repeated here, suggesting that the first three formed half of the ingredient and this spice the other half – but this is conjecture (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 400).

[30:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “of each part there will be an equal part.”