With a very great retinue: Retinue translates a Hebrew noun that has a range of meanings, including “power,” “wealth,” “landowner,” “army,” and “upper class [of a city].” In this context most interpreters understand it as referring to the persons who accompany the queen, so it has been rendered as “retinue” (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible), “group of attendants” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation), “caravan” (New International Version), and “armed guard” (De Vries). Osty-Trinquet, however, sees the focus on the wealth itself and not on the persons bringing the gifts. For the whole phrase here he has “with immense riches.”
In some languages camels are completely unknown. One suggestion is to say “hump-backed horse.” Another possibility is transliterate the Hebrew word gamal for camel or the word used in a major language. It can be explained more fully in the glossary.
Spices translates a Hebrew noun meaning “balsam oil,” but it is to be taken here in the more general sense of various sweet-smelling objects. These spices were expensive because they were imported (2 Kgs 20.13). They were ground up and mixed with oil and used as perfumes, incense, or embalming substances. They were not used for cooking.
Very much gold: According to verse 10, the amount of gold was one hundred and twenty talents.
Precious stones: See the comments on this same phrase in 1 Kgs 5.17, where Revised Standard Version translates it “costly stones.” The stones in 5.17 were used for building the Temple, but here the reference is to “precious gems” (De Vries).
The text implies that the various items brought by the queen of Sheba were to be given as gifts to Solomon. This information comes in verse 10. It seems reasonable, however, to make this explicit in the receptor language if there is any danger that readers may think that she has some other purpose in mind. Contemporary English Version adds the word “gifts” to make this clear.
She told him all that was on her mind: This nearly literal translation of the Hebrew in Revised Standard Version may suggest the wrong meaning. In contemporary American English, when you “tell someone what is on your mind,” it means to tell someone what is bothering you or what your concerns are. Mind translates the Hebrew noun for “heart” (see the comments on this noun in 1 Kgs 3.9). Good News Translation renders this clause as “she asked him all the questions that she could think of,” and New American Bible says “[she] questioned him on every subject in which she was interested.” Knox translates this expression as “she told him all the thoughts that exercised her mind.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .