Exegesis:
basilissa notou ‘the queen of the south,’ without article but determined by the genitive notou (Hebraism). The reference is to the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10.1-13).
basilissa ‘(ruling) queen.’
notos ‘south wind,’ ‘south,’ ‘a country in the south.’
egerthēsetai ‘will rise,’ i.e. from the dead, or (more general), ‘will appear,’ preferably the latter.
en tē krisei ‘at the judgment,’ cf. on 10.14.
kai katakrinei autous ‘and will condemn them,’ not because she is the one who judges, but by comparison. katakrinō also v. 32.
ēlthen ek tōn peratōn tēs gēs ‘she came from the ends of the earth.’ Sheba was located in the southern part of Arabia near the limits of the world then known. peras.
akousai tēn sophian Solomōnos ‘in order to listen to the wisdom of Solomon,’ i.e. to the wise words of Solomon.
kai idou ‘and behold,’ cf. on 1.20.
pleion Solomōnos hōde ‘something greater than Solomon is here,’ an indirect reference to Jesus himself.
Translation:
Queen, or, ‘woman chief/ruler’ (cf. Zarma, East Nyanja, Yao), ‘woman who holds the country’ (Ekari), ‘woman who has the office of ruler’ (Tzeltal), ‘woman ruling as king’ (Kekchi). If the language possesses a feminine derivation of the word for ‘king’ one should make sure whether it covers both ‘ruling queen’ and ‘wife of the king’ (as in Marathi), or can mean only the former (as in Sinhala, Shona), or the latter (in which case the term in not acceptable here).
The South, or ‘the South(ern) country,’ ‘the land in/towards the South.’ In East Nyanja and Yao the name of the rain wind, which is south-easterly, is used for ‘south.’ The term used in Bahasa Indonesia originally meant ‘region-of-the-straits (of Malacca)’ but now is no longer bound to the local geographical situation. The Balinese equivalent (etym. ‘region-of-the-sea’), however, is still bound so: it means ‘south’ in South Bali, but ‘north’ in North Bali; hence a footnote has to be added, giving the North-Balinese equivalent (etym. ‘interior,’ which in South Bali means ‘north’). Cf. also Safwa, where north of the watershed ‘upstream’ means ‘south,’ but south of it the same term is used in the sense of ‘north.’ This kind of difficulty has often led to the use of a borrowing from a language of prestige, e.g. in Tzeltal, Kituba, Tae.’ In the present verse it is also possible to substitute ‘Sheba’ (as done in Kele), which name, though more specific, is virtually synonymous to ‘the South’ in this passage.
Arise at the judgment with the men …, or, ‘arise when the men … are judged, or when God judges the men….’ Arise with, or, “appear against” (New English Bible), ‘appear in court together with’ (Sundanese).
Condemn them, or, ‘accuse them’ (Kekchi), ‘show them to be guilty.’ It may be preferable to connect the verb more closely with the preceding one, cf. e.g. “the Queen … will stand up and accuse the people of today” (Good News Translation).
The ends of the earth. Comparable phrases used are, ‘the fringes of the earth’ (Ekari), ‘the cessation of the land’ (East Nyanja), ‘the “that’s all” of here below’ (Yao), ‘(one of) the border(s) of the earth’ (cf. Marathi, Shona 1966). Elsewhere the meaning is described by, ‘one of the farthest regions of the earth,’ or simply, ‘(a place) far away’ (cf. Pohnpeian, Trukese, Tzeltal).
The wisdom of Solomon, or, ‘the wise words/sayings of S.’ (Tzeltal, Zarma), ‘how wisely S. spoke.’ In Sinhala one does not ‘hear wisdom’ but ‘see wisdom.’ For wisdom see 2.40. Solomon (following the Greek form), or ‘Salomo’ (cf. the Hebrew form, Shelomo), or ‘Sulaiman’ (cf. on 1.5).
Something, here referring to a person, often has to become ‘somebody,’ ‘a person.’
Greater. For the comparative see on “mightier” in 3.16 and references; for “great” see 1.15.
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.