1 Kings 10:1

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
queen	וּמַֽלְכַּת u.mal.kat-	H4436	a queen · conjunction + noun, feminine singular construct
Sheba	שְׁבָ֗א she.Va'	H7614	Sheba · proper noun, a place name
heard	שֹׁמַ֛עַת sho.Ma.'at	H8085	to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
fame	שֵׁ֥מַע She.ma'	H8088	something heard · noun, common masculine singular construct
Solomon	שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה she.lo.Moh	H8010	Shelomah · proper noun, a man's name
name	לְשֵׁ֣ם le.Shem	H8034	an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֑ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
came	וַתָּבֹ֥א va.ta.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
prove	לְנַסֹּת֖וֹ le.na.so.To	H5254	to test · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
questions	בְּחִידֽוֹת be.chi.Dot	H2420	a puzzle · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of th…
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts o…
Genesis 10:28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
2 Chronicles 9:1-12 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great comp…
Psalms 72:15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be prai…
Genesis 10:7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
Genesis 25:3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
Judges 14:12-14 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 10:1-13

We have here an account of the visit which the queen of Sheba made to Solomon, no doubt when he was in the height of his piety and prosperity. Our Saviour calls her the queen of the south, for Sheba lay south of Canaan. The common opinion is that it was in Africa; and the Christians in Ethiopia, to this day, are confident that she came from their country, and that Candace was her successor, who is mentioned Act 8:27. But it is more probable that she came from the south part of Arabia the happy. It should seem she was a queen regent, sovereign of her country. Many a kingdom would have been deprived of its greatest blessings if a Salique law had been admitted into its constitution. Observe, I.…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 10:1

When the queen of Sheba heard - As our Lord calls her queen of the south, (Mat 12:42), it is likely the name should be written Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all of which signify the south. She is called Balkis by the Arabians, but by the Abyssinians Maqueda. See the account at the end of this chapter, Kg1 10:29 (note). With hard questions - בחידות bechidoth; Septuagint, εν αινιγμασι, riddles. With parables and riddles, says the Arabic.

John Gill on 1 Kings 10:1

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon,.... Josephus (u) calls her a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; but Sheba was in the southern part of Arabia Felix; her name with the Ethiopians is Maqueda (w), and with the Arabic geographer (x) Belequis. Some (y) think that Sheba, or Saba, is not the name of a country, but of the queen herself; and that she is the same with Sabbe the sibyl mentioned by Pausanias (z); but no doubt Sheba or Saba, the metropolis of Arabia Felix, as Philostorgius (a) calls it, is here meant; which Benjamin of Tudela says (b) is called the country of Al Yeman, or the south; and the name of Queen Teiman, given to this queen by an Arabic writer (c), seems to be…

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Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 10:1-13

The Church Fathers

The queen of Sheba was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves. The lamp of truth did Solomon give her who also married her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, but they were dark as their manner was.
— Ephrem the Syrian, THE PEARL, HYMN 3.3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Cup — A wine-cup (Gen. 40:11, 21), various forms of which are found on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. All Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold (1 Kings 10: 21). The cups mentioned in the New Testament…
Gold — (1.) Heb. zahab, so called from its yellow colour (Ex. 25:11; 1 Chr. 28:18; 2 Chr. 3:5). (2.) Heb. segor, from its compactness, or as being enclosed or treasured up; thus precious or “fine gold” (1…
Riddle — (Heb. hodah). The oldest and, strictly speaking, the only example of a riddle was that propounded by Samson (Judg. 14:12-18). The parabolic prophecy in Ezek. 17:2-18 is there called a “riddle.” It…
Sheba — An oath, seven. (1.) Heb. shebha, the son of Raamah (Gen. 10:7), whose descendants settled with those of Dedan on the Persian Gulf. (2.) Heb. id. A son of Joktan (Gen. 10:28), probably the founder of…
Solomon — Peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David’s second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father…
Precious Stones · Brought from Sheba — Brought from Sheba
Queen · Of Sheba, visits — Of Sheba, visits
Sheba · 7. Queen of, visits — 7. Queen of, visits

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 10:1-13

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 10:1

John Gill on 1 Kings 10:1

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 10:1-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 10:1-13

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 10:1

John Gill on 1 Kings 10:1

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 10:1-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Kings 10:1-13