1 Kings 14:3

cracknels The word so rendered is found only here and in Joshua 9:5, of the bread of the Gibeonites, which became mouldy. Some take the word there in the sense of crumbling, so dry that it crumbled into bits. In the present passage however it must mean a sort of cake, perhaps dry baked. The whole of the present which the queen was to take with her was such as a woman of humble position would bring. The traditional interpretation of the Talmud makes the word to mean small cakes about the size of half an egg. The LXX. (Alex.) adds as explanatory, that they were for the prophet's children.

and a cruse The word only occurs here and in Jeremiah 19:1; Jeremiah 19:10, where it is rendered -bottle".

he shall tell thee what shall become of the child It reveals to us a singular condition of mind, when we see the king confident in the prophet's power of foretelling the future even in the case of an individual life, and yet thinking that the queen could go to him with her question and he not know who was making the inquiry.