Bible Strands
2 Samuel 8:17
Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the scribe;
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records David’s administrative appointments following his military campaigns, listing officials who govern Israel alongside the king’s son.
The words — The text identifies Zadok (צָדוֹק, tza.Dok) and Ahimelech (אֲחִימֶלֶךְ, 'a.chi.Me.lekh) as priests, employing the plural כֹּהֲנִים (ko.ha.Nim) to denote their shared, official capacity.
The thread — This roster parallels 1 Chronicles 18:16, which substitutes Shavsha for Seraiah as scribe, and connects to 1 Chronicles 6:8 for Zadok’s lineage and 1 Chronicles 16:39 for his later service at Gibeon.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to recognize that David’s kingdom operated through a formal bureaucracy where religious and civil duties were explicitly assigned and documented.
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 Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Seraiah was the scribe;
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 6:8 Ahitub was the father of Zadok, Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz,
- 1 Chronicles 18:16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was the scribe;
- 1 Chronicles 16:39 And David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon
- 1 Chronicles 24:3 With the help of Eleazar’s descendant Zadok and Ithamar’s descendant Ahimelech, David divided them according to the offices of their service.
- 1 Chronicles 6:53 Zadok his son, and Ahimaaz his son.