| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative summary begins with the waw-consecutive verb vayelekh {וַיֵּ֕לֶךְ | wayyeḵ} ‘and he walked’, linking this action to the preceding account. The construct chain b’khol ḥattō’ōt ’ă-vîw {בְּכָל־חַטֹּאות אָבִ֖יו | bə-ḵol-ḥat-tō’ōt-’ā-vîw} ‘in all the sins of his father’ employs a construct linkage to tie the scope of transgressions directly to the patriarch. The relative clause ’ă-šer-’ā-śāh lə-pā-nāw {אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֣ה לְפָנָ֑יו | ’ă-šer-’ā-śāh lə-pā-nāw} ‘that he had done before him’ provides temporal context by referencing the father’s prior deeds. In the negative copular clause wə-lō-hā-yāh lə-ḇā-ḇōw šā-lēm ’im-yə-hō-wāh ’ĕ-lō-hāw {וְלֹא־הָיָ֨ה לְבָב֤וֹ שָׁלֵם֙ עִם־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֔יו | wə-lō-hā-yāh lə-ḇā-ḇōw šā-lēm ’im-yə-hō-wāh ’ĕ-lō-hāw} ‘and his heart was not whole with the LORD his God’ the adjective šā-lēm conveys a contrastive lack of complete devotion. The comparative clause kî-lə-ḇab Dā-wîḏ ’ā-vîw {כִּלְבַ֖ב דָּוִ֥ד אָבִֽיו | kî-lə-ḇab Dā-wîḏ ’ā-vîw} ‘like the heart of David his father’ uses kî to present David’s unwavering loyalty as the normative paradigm. The English rendering preserves the sequential action and restructures the construct and comparative elements into idiomatic flow. |