| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with the subject ushemayah {וּֽשְׁמַֽעְיָ֤ה | û-šə-maʿ-yāh} followed by the appositional title hanavi {הַנָּבִיא֙ | ha-nā-vîʾ} ‘the prophet,’ establishing prophetic authority before any speech is reported. The main verb ba {בָּ֣א | bāʾ} ‘came’ moves the narrative to a confrontation scene, and the destination phrase el-rechavam {אֶל־רְחַבְעָ֔ם | ʾel-rəḥavʿām} is expanded by coordination with vesarei yehudah {וְשָׂרֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה | wə-sārê yə-hûdāh} ‘the officials of Judah.’ The relative clause asher-neesfu {אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפ֥וּ | ʾăšer-neʾespû} ‘who had assembled’ narrows the audience and is paired with the causal phrase mipnei shishaq {מִפְּנֵ֣י שִׁישָׁ֑ק | mippenê šîšāq} ‘because of Shishak,’ foregrounding threat-driven circumstances. The vav-consecutive vayomer {וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | wayyōʾmer} marks the shift from report to direct discourse, and the prophetic messenger formula ko-amar Yahweh {כֹּה־אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה | kō-ʾāmar yə-hō-wāh} frames the words as divine decree rather than human counsel. Inside the quotation, the matching perfects azavtem… azavti {עֲזַבְתֶּ֣ם… עָזַ֥בְתִּי | ʿăzavtem… ʿāzavtî} create a measure-for-measure structure: human abandonment leads to divine abandonment. The closing prepositional idiom beyad-shishaq {בְּיַד־שִׁישָֽׁק׃ | bə-yad-šîšāq} ‘into the hand of Shishak’ expresses transfer into an enemy’s control, which communicates judgment through political subjection. |