³⁴ The son of Jonathan was ^[a]Merib-Baal, and Merib-Baal begot ^(A)Micah.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son ^(A)whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth.

^4 (A)Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came ^(B)from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was ^(C)Mephibosheth.^[a]

David and Mephibosheth Meet

²⁴ Now ^(A)Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace. ²⁵ So it was, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, ^(B)“Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

²⁶ And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame. ²⁷ And ^(C)he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, ^(D)but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes. ²⁸ For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. ^(E)Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to ^[a]cry out anymore to the king?”

²⁹ So the king said to him, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the land.’ ”

³⁰ Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Rather, let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house.”

¹⁰ You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son ^(A)shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had ^(B)fifteen sons and twenty servants.

⁶ Now when ^(A)Mephibosheth^[a] the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?”

And he answered, “Here is your servant!”