diff --git a/docs/source/user-guide/data-sources.md b/docs/source/user-guide/data-sources.md
index 22e666837..cd6044c33 100644
--- a/docs/source/user-guide/data-sources.md
+++ b/docs/source/user-guide/data-sources.md
@@ -89,7 +89,9 @@ ctx.create_dataframe([[batch]]).show()
 ## Object Store
 
 DataFusion has support for multiple storage options in addition to local files.
-The example below requires an appropriate S3 account with access credentials.
+The example below requires access to the S3 bucket. Set `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and
+`AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` in the environment before running it. For temporary
+credentials, also set `AWS_SESSION_TOKEN`.
 
 Supported Object Stores are
 
@@ -100,16 +102,17 @@ Supported Object Stores are
 - {py:class}`~datafusion.object_store.MicrosoftAzure`
 
 ```python
+from datafusion import SessionContext
 from datafusion.object_store import AmazonS3
 
 region = "us-east-1"
 bucket_name = "yellow-trips"
 
+ctx = SessionContext()
+
 s3 = AmazonS3(
     bucket_name=bucket_name,
     region=region,
-    access_key_id=os.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"),
-    secret_access_key=os.getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"),
 )
 
 path = f"s3://{bucket_name}/"
@@ -120,6 +123,27 @@ ctx.register_parquet("trips", path)
 ctx.table("trips").show()
 ```
 
+### Query S3 data with SQL
+
+To reach the same data from SQL, give the S3 path a table name with
+`CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE`. The registered object store carries the credentials and
+the region, so the statement itself needs only the location.
+
+Register the store for the bucket as shown above, then use that same
+{py:class}`~datafusion.context.SessionContext` to create and query the table:
+
+```python
+ctx.sql(
+    f"""
+    CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE trips_sql
+    STORED AS PARQUET
+    LOCATION '{path}'
+    """
+).collect()
+
+ctx.sql("SELECT count(passenger_count) FROM trips_sql").show()
+```
+
 ## Other DataFrame Libraries
 
 DataFusion can import DataFrames directly from other libraries, such as
diff --git a/python/tests/test_object_store_param.py b/python/tests/test_object_store_param.py
index 13d51d792..64be19f63 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_object_store_param.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_object_store_param.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-"""Tests for the object_store parameter on register/read file methods."""
+"""Tests for object store registration and register/read file methods."""
 
 import contextlib
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -138,3 +138,24 @@ def test_parquet_methods_with_local_object_store(ctx, tmp_path, method_name):
         dataframe = ctx.read_parquet(path, object_store=LocalFileSystem())
 
     assert dataframe.collect()[0].column("value").to_pylist() == [10, 20, 30]
+
+
+def test_sql_external_table_uses_registered_object_store(ctx, tmp_path):
+    """Read a remote URL through a registered store without network access."""
+    table = pa.table({"passenger_count": [1, None, 3]})
+    pq.write_table(table, tmp_path / "trips.parquet")
+
+    # Back the S3 URL with local files to test SQL's registry lookup, not AWS.
+    store = LocalFileSystem(prefix=str(tmp_path))
+    ctx.register_object_store("s3://", store, host="test-bucket")
+    ctx.sql(
+        """
+        CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE trips_sql
+        STORED AS PARQUET
+        LOCATION 's3://test-bucket/'
+        """
+    ).collect()
+
+    assert ctx.table("trips_sql").to_pydict() == table.to_pydict()
+    result = ctx.sql("SELECT count(passenger_count) AS count FROM trips_sql")
+    assert result.to_pydict() == {"count": [2]}