20:15 So Ahab 1 assembled the 232 servants of the district governors. After that he assembled all the Israelite army, numbering 7,000. 2
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “after them he assembled all the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.”
3 tn The noun translated “small flocks” occurs only here. The common interpretation derives the word from the verbal root חשׂף, “to strip off; to make bare.” In this case the noun refers to something “stripped off” or “made bare.” HALOT 359 s.v. II חשׂף derives the noun from a proposed homonymic verbal root (which occurs only in Ps 29:9) meaning “cause a premature birth.” In this case the derived noun could refer to goats that are undersized because they are born prematurely.