| 35. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a rhetorical question introduced by vahalo {וַהֲל֤וֹא | va-hă-lōʾ} ‘and is it not’, establishing emphasis and expectation. The prepositional phrase immekha {עִמְּךָ | ʿim-mə-khā} ‘with you’ and the adverb sham {שָׁם | šām} ‘there’ set the spatial context before the appositional identification of the priests tsadoq {צָד֥וֹק | ṣā-ḏōq} and eveatar {וְאֶבְיָתָ֖ר | wə-’ĕ-vyā-tār}. The main clause begins with vehayah {וְהָיָ֗ה | wə-hā-yāh} ‘and it shall be’, functioning as a conditional marker for the subsequent relative clause asher {אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ’ă-šer} ‘that’. The clause kol-hadavar {כָּל־הַדָּבָר֙ | kol-had-dā-var} ‘every matter’ serves as the object of tishma {תִּשְׁמַע | tiš-maʿ} ‘you hear’, followed by the source phrase mibeit hammelekh {מִבֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | mi-bêyt ha-mé-leḵ} ‘from the king’s house’. The verb taggid {תַּגִּ֕יד | tag-gîḏ} ‘you shall tell’ takes two coordinated indirect objects le-tsadoq {לְצָד֥וֹק | lə-ṣā-dōq} and uleeveatar {וּלְאֶבְיָתָ֖ר | û-lə-’ĕ-vyā-tār}, with hakohanim {הַכֹּהֲנִֽים | ha-kō-hă-nīm} repeated for appositional emphasis. English syntax divides the long Hebrew construction into a question and conditional command for clarity, preserving the conditional ve-hayah sequence. |