21:8 She wrote out orders, 10 signed Ahab’s name to them, 11 and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders 12 to the leaders 13 and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. 14
1 tn Heb “their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were unable to wipe out, and Solomon raised them up for a crew of labor to this day.”
2 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
3 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
4 tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.
5 tn Heb “cutting off.”
6 tn Or “servants.”
7 tn Heb “And you, you muster an army like the one that fell from you, horse like horse and chariot like chariot.”
8 tn Heb “he listened to their voice and did so.”
9 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.
10 tn Heb “scrolls.”
11 tn Heb “in the name of Ahab.”
12 tn Heb “scrolls.”
13 tn Heb “elders.”
14 tn Heb “to the nobles who were in his city, the ones who lived with Naboth.”