And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
And linen yarn, х miqªwee' (H4723)] - a collection, a gathering; nowhere is it used to signify "linen yarn."
The king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. It is strange to find these words in the midst of a context which is occupied before and after with describing the importation, on a large scale, of horses and chariots from Egypt. The insertion of a clause so unconnected might create a suspicion that the text in this passage has been dislocated, did not the words admit of another interpretation more in accordance with the tenor of the narrative. [Taking the word miqwee (H4723) as it stands in the present Hebrew text, Gesenius, followed by Keil, gives this meaning to the clause: 'And a company (or caravan) of the king's merchants (traders) brought a troop or string of horses from Egypt at a price. The Vulgate, taking Qowah as a proper name, has, 'and horses were brought to Solomon, from Koa' (a place unknown). Thenius, in his 'Commentary,' suggests a translation different from both of the preceding, and founded upon that of the Septuagint. The text of that version (cf. 1 Kings 10:28) stands thus: -kai hee exodos Saloomoon toon hippeoon kai ex Aiguptou kai ek Thekoue emporoi tou basileoos, kai elambanon ek Thekoue en allagmati. How or whence did the Septuagint obtain the reading, ek Thekoue? Thenius conjectures that the Hebrew manuscript from which they translated had mi-Tªqowach, and that they considered the clause in question to signify that the king's trading agents brought horses in bands from Tekoa, having bought them at a price. The ancient route by which animals from the horse markets of Egypt were brought into Palestine was through Beer-sheba and by Tekoa. To the latter place, as an established depot, they were brought by the Egyptian jockeys, and there transferred to the care of Solomon's factors. Great weight must, in this instance, be attached to the views of the Septuagint, who, in rendering this passage, would undoubtedly be influenced by their knowledge of the mode in which this extensive traffic was carried on.]