2 Samuel 20:25

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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ושיא

Shᵉyâʼ

H7864

“and · Sheva”

Conjunction + Noun, Proper

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: for H7724

TWOT: None

Sheva = "Jehovah contends" - the scribe of David - also 'Seraiah', 'Shisha', and 'Shavsha'

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

ושיא Sheva H7864

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

ושיא Sheva H7864
וּשְׁוָ֖א Sheva H7724

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּשְׁוָ֖א Sheva H7724 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

1 Chronicles 2:49

Grammatical profile

6 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 10 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 8 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 20:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Samuel 8:17 and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Seraiah was scribe;
1 Kings 4:4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
1 Chronicles 18:16 and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shavsha was scribe;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Samuel 20:25 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

ושיא וּשְׁוָ֖א סֹפֵ֑ר וְצָד֥וֹק וְאֶבְיָתָ֖ר כֹּהֲנִֽים

and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 20:25 Septuagint · lemma form

καί σουσα γραμματεύς καί σαδωκ καί αβιαθαρ ἱερεύς

And Susa was scribe: and Sadoc and Abiathar were priests.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וּשְׁוָא סַפְרָא וְצָדוֹק וְאֶבְיָתָר כַּהֲנַיָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Samuel 20:25 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

2Sa 20:25 And Sheva [was] scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests:

Ver. 25. And Sheva was scribe.] The same with that Seraiah, {2Sa 8:17} or else some other succeeding him, being now dead.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

20:25 In contrast to David’s personal priest (see 8:18; 20:26 and corresponding notes), Zadok and Abiathar presided over public worship.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 25. Shevah was scribe] The king's secretary.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Sheva.—This officer is called Seraiah in 2Sa_8:17. Nearly all the officers mentioned here are the same as in 2Sa_8:16-18, where see the Notes.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

25. Sheva] Or Sheya, apparently another name for the Seraiah of ch. 2Sa_8:17.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And Sheva was scribe,.... Either the same with Benaiah, or he was dead or removed, and Sheva was put in his place, see Sa2 8:17,

and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests; as before; See Gill on Sa2 8:17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

25. Sheva — Called Shisha, 1Ki_4:3, and Shavsha, 1Ch_18:16; but these are all either corruptions or abbreviations of the name Seraiah, which appears in the earlier list. 2Sa_8:17.

Zadok and Abiathar… priests — These priests seem to have acted in great harmony during the reign of David. But the one officiated at Gibeon and the other at Jerusalem. See note on 2Sa_6:17. When Solomon became king he removed Abiathar. 1Ki_2:26.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Sheva. He is called Seraiah in 2Sa_8:17.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Shᵉyâʼ (“Sheva”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Shᵉyâʼ carries the sense “Sheva.” How does it shape the verse?
This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
2 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
1 Chronicles 2:49 shares the word «Sheva» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 8 Greek words.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.