12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While 3 the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”
1 tn Heb “on the roof of the house of the king.” So also in vv. 8, 9.
2 tn The disjunctive clause highlights this observation and builds the tension of the story.
3 tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.
4 tn Here and elsewhere (vv. 7, 12, 15a, 17, 19) the woman uses a term which suggests a lower level female servant. She uses the term to express her humility before the king. However, she uses a different term in vv. 15b-16. See the note at v. 15 for a discussion of the rhetorical purpose of this switch in terminology.
5 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.