Bible Strands
2 Samuel 8:18
Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records David’s administrative appointments following his military victories, concluding the chapter’s list of officials.
The words — כֹּהֲנִ֥ים (ko.ha.Nim) translates literally as “priests,” applied directly to David’s sons in this administrative roster.
The thread — The Cherethites and Pelethites reappear as David’s personal guard in 2 Samuel 15:18 and 2 Samuel 20:7, while 1 Samuel 30:14 identifies the Cherethites as a territorial group in the Negev.
Why it lands — The text explicitly assigns priestly status to David’s sons, requiring the reader to note this specific royal arrangement without conflating it with later Levitical priestly lines.
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 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief rulers.
Cross-references
- 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 15:18 and all his servants marched past him—all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.
- 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 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.
- 2 Samuel 23:20 And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a man of valor from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. He struck down two champions of Moab, and on a snowy day he went down into a pit and killed a lion.
- 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 Kings 1:44 And with Solomon, the king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites, and they have set him on the king’s mule.
- 2 Samuel 20:26 and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.
- 1 Kings 2:34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.