| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse comprises two coordinated nominal clauses that list royal officials. The first clause has the compound subject ve-tsadok ben-achituv {וְצָד֧וֹק בֶּן־אֲחִיט֛וּב | wə-ṣā-ḏōq ben-ʾǎ-ḥî-tūḇ} “Zadok son of Ahitub” and va-avimelekh ben-eviyatar {וַאֲבִימֶ֥לֶךְ בֶּן־אֶבְיָתָ֖ר | wa-ʾǎ-ḇî-mé-leḵ ben-ʾê-ḇyā-tār} “Avimelekh son of Abiathar” functioning as subjects with the noun kohanim {כֹּהֲנִ֑ים | kō-hǎ-ṇîm} “priests” as the predicate nominative. The second clause introduced by ve-shavsha {וְשַׁוְשָׁ֖א | wə-ša-w-šāʾ} “and Shavsha” lacks an overt copula, making sofer {סוֹפֵֽר | sō-p̄ēr} “scribe” its predicate nominative. The use of the vav conjunction to link nominal clauses without a verb is characteristic of Hebrew parataxis. In English, the zero-copula is rendered with “were” in the formal to mirror the construct and with “served as” in the dynamic to convey the functional role. |