וַיָּבֹ֤א דָוִד֙ נֹ֔בֶה אֶל־אֲחִימֶ֖לֶךְ הַכֹּהֵ֑ן וַיֶּחֱרַ֨ד אֲחִימֶ֜לֶךְ לִקְרַ֣את דָּוִ֗ד וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לוֹ֙ מַדּ֤וּעַ אַתָּה֙ לְבַדֶּ֔ךָ וְאִ֖ישׁ אֵ֥ין אִתָּֽךְ׃
David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech came out in alarm to meet David, and he said to him, “Why are you alone? Not a soul is with you!”
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this document, pp. 11–16.)
Here, as usual, אִישׁ is employed to schematically depict a situation. It marks the participant in question (in this case, a hypothetical person) as essential for grasping that situation. This is a classic function of the situating noun.
The word order of this verbless clause, which places the situating noun before the negator, signals a stronger implication than simply “no one”; rather, it means “not even a single person; no one at all.” (In technical terms, אִישׁ is marked for constituent focus via fronting before the negating word. With אַיִן, such fronting occurs only twice: here and in Gen 19:31. Contrast the normal word order in Exod 2:12 and twelve other passages. See further §§8.2.1–2 in my 2020 dissertation.)
The meaning that this second clause adds to the speaker’s first clause is the sense of surprise—namely, that the present state of affairs is completely contrary to his expectation.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS rendering ‘and no one is with you?’ does not properly express the force of the clause. Indeed, it makes it sound redundant. The revised rendering expresses both of the above nuances in modern spoken idiom (cf. NJPS “There is not a soul there” at 2 Kgs 7:10 to render אֵין־שָׁם אִישׁ; and contemporary usage attestations here and here).