Bible Strands
2 Samuel 15:18
and all his servants marched past him—all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David is walking past his remaining courtiers as he abandons Jerusalem after Absalom’s coup.
The words — The Hebrew עֹבְרִים ('oe.Rim) translates as "[were] passing by," combined with עַל־יָדוֹ ('al-yado) for "at his side." This phrasing documents the physical procession of David’s personnel as they move past him.
The thread — This same military unit appears under Benaiah’s command in 2 Samuel 8:18, is listed among raided regions in 1 Samuel 30:14, and marches with Joab in 2 Samuel 20:7.
Why it lands — The text records the literal departure of the Cherethites, Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites as David leaves the city. It requires the reader to note that political collapse reduces a king to a figure accompanied only by the specific mercenaries and guards who physically choose to follow.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.
- 1 Samuel 30:14 We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.”
- 2 Samuel 20:7 So Joab’s men, along with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, marched out of Jerusalem in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri.
- 2 Samuel 20:23 Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites;
- 1 Kings 1:38 Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites, went down and set Solomon on King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon.
- 1 Chronicles 18:17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.
- 1 Samuel 27:3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
- 2 Samuel 6:10 So he was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
- 2 Samuel 15:19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.
- 2 Samuel 18:2 He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will surely march out with you as well.”