¹⁷ There were a thousand men of ^(A)Benjamin with him, and ^(B)Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king.

Mephibosheth’s Servant

16 When^(A) David was a little past the top of the mountain, there was ^(B)Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth, who met him with a couple of saddled donkeys, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred clusters of raisins, one hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ² And the king said to Ziba, “What do you mean to do with these?”

So Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for ^(C)those who are faint in the wilderness to drink.”

³ Then the king said, “And where is your ^(D)master’s son?”

^(E)And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me.’ ”

⁴ So the king said to Ziba, “Here, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.”

And Ziba said, “I humbly bow before you, that I may find favor in your sight, my lord, O king!”

² And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was ^(A)Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

He said, “At your service!”

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 ^(A)he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, ^(B)but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes.

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.