to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
king
הַמֶּ֔לֶךְha.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
true
אֱמֶת֙'e.Met
H571
stability · noun, common feminine singular absolute
report
הַדָּבָ֔רha.da.Var
H1697
a word · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
heard
שָׁמַ֖עְתִּיsha.Ma'.ti
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
land
בְּאַרְצִ֑יbe.'ar.Tzi
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person feminine singular
acts
דְּבָרֶ֖יךָde.va.Rei.kha
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
wisdom
חָכְמָתֶֽךָcha.khe.ma.Te.kha
H2451
wisdom (in a good sense) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
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
2 Chronicles 9:5-6 And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
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.…
It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom--The proofs she obtained of Solomon's wisdom--not from his conversation only, but also from his works; the splendor of his palace; the economy of his kitchen and table; the order of his court; the gradations and gorgeous costume of his servants; above all, the arched viaduct that led from his palace to the temple (Kg2 16:18), and the remains of which have been recently discovered [ROBINSON]--overwhelmed her with astonishment. [See on Ch2 9:4.]
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 10:5
The meat of his table - The immense supply of all kinds of food daily necessary for the many thousands which were fed at and from his table. See Kg1 4:22-23 (note).
And the sitting of his servants - The various orders and distinctions of his officers.
The attendance of his ministers - See the account of these and their attendance, Kg1 4:1, etc.
And their apparel - The peculiarity of their robes, and their splendor and costliness.
And his cup-bearers - The original משקיו mashkaiv may as well be applied to his beverage, or to his drinking utensils, as to his cup-bearers.
And his ascent by which he went up - It seems very strange that the steps to the temple should be such a separate matter of…
In almost all places from the east to the west where the Christian religion is practiced, your manner of life for the glory of God is preached with most illustrious fame. It is rightly required of you that what is believed in your case should also be proved. With the Lord's help, then, do what you have always done, and preserve charity, humility, meekness and obedience in such a way that what is believed about you in the whole world may be augmented by the deeds of an ever spotless life. Then whoever has merited to see you will be able to give verbal utterance to the sentence uttered by that queen who wanted to seek out Solomon as a type of the church. When each one of you like living temples of Christ, adorned with the pearls of good works, filled with the burnt offerings of prayers and fragrant with the spices of virtues has merited to be contemplated, then immediately breaking forth with the voice of exultation, may he exclaim and say with that queen, "The report I heard in my country" about the life of this saintly community "is true." Behold, now in truth "I have discovered that they were hardly telling me the half"; for I have merited to see with my eyes much greater things than I first heard with my ears. When anyone merited to seek and behold you like angels placed on earth, he rejoiced at such things and uttered words with his own lips. Then he happily announced throughout the whole world: Consider and see how much glory is added to you and how precious and holy a joy is produced for the universal church throughout the entire world.
We entrust our case to the most prudent person we can find and ask advice from him more readily than we do from others. However, the faithful counsel of a just person stands first and often has more weight than the great abilities of the wisest of people: "For better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of others." And just because it is the judgment of a just person, it is also the conclusion of a wise one: in the one lies the result of the matter in dispute, in the other readiness of invention. And if one connects the two, there will be great soundness in the advice given, which is regarded by all with admiration for the wisdom shown and with love for its justice. And so all will desire to hear the wisdom of that person in whom those two virtues are found together, as all the kings of the earth desired to see the face of Solomon and to hear his wisdom. No, even the queen of Sheba came to him and tried him with questions. She came and spoke of all the things that were in her heart and heard all the wisdom of Solomon, nor did any word escape her. Who she was whom nothing escaped, and that there was nothing which the truth-loving Solomon did not tell her, learn, O man, from this which you hear her saying, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your words and of your prudence, yet I did not believe those that told it me until I came and my eyes had seen it; and behold, the half was not told me. You have added good things over and above all that I heard in my own land. Blessed are your women and blessed your servants, who stand before you and hear all your prudence." Recognize the feast of the true Solomon and those who are set down at that feast; recognize it wisely and think in what land all the nations shall hear the fame of true wisdom and justice and with what eyes they shall see him, beholding those things that are not seen. "For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal."What women are blessed but those of whom it is said "that many hear the word of God and bring forth fruit"? And again: "Whosoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." And who are those blessed servants, who stand before him, but Paul, who said, "Even to this day I stand witnessing both to great and small"; or Simeon, who was waiting in the temple to see the consolation of Israel? How…
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…
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…
Queen · Of Sheba, visits — Of Sheba, 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).
John Gill on 1 Kings 10:6
And she said to the king,.... When she was a little come to herself:
it was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom; which she was ready to call in question when she first heard it; at least she thought it was greatly exaggerated, but now she found it was strictly true.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 10:1-13
Visit of the Queen of Saba (cf. Ch2 9:1-12). - When the fame of Solomon's great wisdom came to the ears of the queen of Saba, probably through the Ophir voyages, she undertook a journey to Jerusalem, to convince herself of the truth of the report which had reached her, by putting it to the test by means of enigmas. שׁבא, Σαβά, is not Ethiopia or Mero, as Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, 5), who confounds שׁבא with סבא, and the Abyssinian Christians suppose (vid., Ludolfi hist. Aeth. ii. 3), but the kingdom of the Sabaeans, who were celebrated for their trade in incense, gold, and precious stones, and who dwelt in Arabia Felix, with the capital Saba, or the Μαριάβα of the Greeks. This queen, who is…
The queen’s testimony confirmed her amazement. Not only was everything she had heard true, but now that she had seen it with her own eyes, she realized that Solomon’s accomplishments had been understated. She recognized that the Lord was Solomon’s benefactor and that Solomon should steward his God-given wisdom with justice and righteousness.
Rashi on 1 Kings 10:5
And his elevated ramp by which he would go up to the Beis Hamikdosh of Adonoy. By means of a passageway that he had prepared from his house to the Beis Hamikdosh, by which he would go up to the House of God.1Alternatively, ועולתו אשר יעלה עליו refers to the sacrifices that Shlomo offered in the Beis Hamikdosh, described above in 9:25.—Targum