Bible Dictionary
Yarn
The passages sometimes translated “linen yarn” in 1 Kings 10:28 and 2 Chronicles 1:16 more likely refer to horses brought from Egypt in droves or companies. The Hebrew wording is obscure.
Definition
“Yarn” is the traditional rendering of an obscure Hebrew word in passages concerning Solomon’s horses. The word more likely means a host, company, number, or drove rather than spun fiber or linen yarn. The passage therefore concerns horses brought from Egypt and received by merchants in droves at a price.
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in the accounts of Solomon’s horses in Kings and Chronicles. The Revised Version understands the wording as referring to horses brought from Egypt in companies or droves, not to a separate trade in linen yarn.
Historical Background
The Hebrew text is described as extremely obscure, and the Received Text is questioned. The proposed interpretation treats the word as denoting a group or number applying to the horses or the merchants.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Found only in 1 Kings 10:28, 2 Chr. 1:16. The Heb. word mikveh, i.e., “a stringing together,” so rendered, rather signifies a host, or company, or a string of horses. The Authorized Version has: “And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price;” but the Revised Version correctly renders: “And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; the king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.”
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The notice of yarn is contained in an extremely obscure passage in (1 Kings 10:28; 2 Chronicles 1:16) The Hebrew Received Text is questionable. Gesenius gives the sense of “number” as applying equally to the merchants and the horses: “A band of the king’s merchants bought a drove (of horses) at a price.”
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>yarn.</p><p>See LINEN; SPINNING; WEAVING.</p>