| 25. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses a paratactic listing of officials introduced by the prefix vav. U-sheva {וּשְׁוָא | ū-šə-wā} ‘and Sheva’ links directly to sofer {סֹפֵר | sō-fēr} ‘scribe’ without an explicit copula, mirrored by ve-tsadok {וְצָד֥וֹק | wə-ṣā-ḏō-q} ‘and Zadok’ and ve-evyatar {וְאֶבְיָתָר | wə-’eb-yā-tār} ‘and Abiathar’ forming kohanim {כֹּהֲנִים | kō-hă-nīm} ‘priests.’ English supplies “was/were” or “served as” to render the implied verb, preserving the catalog-like tone of the appointment list. |