| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive verb vayya’al {וַיַּ֜עַל | va-ya-ʾal} ‘and went up’, which establishes narrative sequence. The collective noun kol-’ish yisra’el {כָּל־אִ֤ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | kol-’iš yiś-rā-ʾēl} ‘all the men of Israel’ functions as the subject. The prepositional phrase me-’achare david {מֵאַחֲרֵ֣י דָוִ֔ד | me-’a-ḥǎ-rê dā-wī-ḏ} ‘from after David’ marks the shift of loyalty, which is reinforced by the construct achare sheva ben-bikhri {אַחֲרֵ֖י שֶׁ֣בַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִ֑י | ’a-ḥǎ-rê še-ḇāʿ ben-bī-khrī} ‘after Sheba son of Bichri’. The adversative conjunction ve-’ish yehuda {וְאִ֤ישׁ יְהוּדָה֙ | wə-’iš yə-hū-dā} ‘but the men of Judah’ introduces contrast, followed by the perfect davqu {דָּבְק֣וּ | dā-və-qū} ‘they clung’, conveying firm allegiance in the construct be-malkam {בְמַלְכָּ֔ם | bə-malk-kām} ‘to their king’. The locative expression min-hayarden ve-ad-yerushalayim {מִן־הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן וְעַד־יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם | min-ha-yar-dēn wə-ʿad yə-rū-šā-lā-yim} ‘from the Jordan to Jerusalem’ specifies the geographical boundary. English SVO order is adopted and the adversative sense is rendered with “but.” |