2 Samuel 8:10-18

8:10 he ¹  sent his son Joram ²  to King David to extend his best wishes ³  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. ⁴  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. ⁵  8:11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ⁶  along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from ⁷  all the nations that he had subdued, 8:12 including ⁸  Aram, ⁹  Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amelek. This also included some of the plunder taken from ¹⁰  King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah.

8:13 David became famous ¹¹  when he returned from defeating the Arameans ¹²  in the Valley of Salt, he defeated ¹³  18,000 in all. 8:14 He placed garrisons throughout Edom, ¹⁴  and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned. 8:15 David reigned over all Israel; he guaranteed justice for all his people. ¹⁵ 

David’s Cabinet

8:16 Joab son of Zeruiah was general in command of ¹⁶  the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was secretary; 8:17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar ¹⁷  were priests; Seraiah was scribe; 8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoida supervised ¹⁸  the Kerithites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “Toi.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn The name appears as “Hadoram” in the parallel text in 1 Chr 18:10.

³ tn Heb “to ask concerning him for peace.”

⁴ tn Heb “and to bless him because he fought with Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer was a man of battles with Toi.”

⁵ tn Heb “and in his hand were items of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.”

⁶ tn Heb “also them King David made holy to the Lord.”

⁷ tn Heb “with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from.”

⁸ tn Heb “from.”

⁹ tc The present translation follows the MT; a few Hebrew mss along with the LXX and Syriac read “Edom” (cf. 2 Sam 8:14 and 1 Chr 18:11). Many modern English versions read “Edom” here (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

¹⁰ tn Heb “and from the plunder of.”

¹¹ tn Heb “made a name.”

¹² tn So NASB, NCV; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “Edomites” (see the note on “Aram” in v. 12).

¹³ tn The words “he defeated” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁴ tc The MT is repetitious here: “He placed in Edom garrisons; in all Edom he placed garrisons.” The Vulgate lacks “in all Edom”; most of the Greek tradition (with the exception of the Lucianic recension and the recension of Origen) and the Syriac Peshitta lack “he placed garrisons.” The MT reading appears here to be the result of a conflation of variant readings.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and David was doing what is just and fair for all his people.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “was over.”

¹⁷ tc Here Ahimelech is called “the son of Abiathar,” but NCV, CEV, and REB reverse this to conform with 1 Sam 22:20. Most recent English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) retain the order found in the MT.

¹⁸ tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta, Targum, and Vulgate in reading “over,” rather than the simple conjunction that appears in MT. See also the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17.

¹⁹ sn That David’s sons could have been priests, in light of the fact that they were not of the priestly lineage, is strange. One must assume either (1) that the word “priest” (כֹּהֵן, kohen) during this period of time could be used in a broader sense of “chief ruler” (KJV); “chief minister” (ASV, NASB), or “royal adviser” (NIV), perhaps based on the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18:17 which has “the king’s leading officials”, or (2) that in David’s day members of the king’s family could function as a special category of “priests” (cf. NLT “priestly leaders”). The latter option seems to be the more straightforward way of understanding the word in 2 Sam 8:18.