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2 Samuel 20 · a question people ask

Chapter 8 says Seraiah was scribe. Why does this list say Sheva?

In the text

Both are in the text. Chapter 8's list has "Seraiah was scribe" (8:17); this one has "Sheva was scribe" (20:25). Chronicles, in its list of David's officials, has "Shavsha was scribe" (1 Chronicles 18:16), and in Solomon's list the scribes are "Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha" (1 Kings 4:3). The Bible doesn't say whether these names belong to one man or to more than one, and this answer doesn't guess.

The verses

“Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe,”
2 Samuel 8:17 · World English Bible
“Sheva was scribe, Zadok and Abiathar were priests,”
2 Samuel 20:25 · World English Bible
“Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was scribe;”
1 Chronicles 18:16 · World English Bible
“Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;”
1 Kings 4:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Samuel 20

2 Samuel 20: A mother in Israel

Sheba's revolt opens with "neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse" (20:1) and ends with a wise woman asking Joab, "Why will you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?" (20:19): the same Hebrew word, nachalah. And her "a mother in Israel" is, in Hebrew, the two words Deborah used of herself (Judges 5:7).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions