²⁸ For all my father’s house were doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to appeal to the king?”^(A)

¹³ Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.^(A)

¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat, but your master’s grandson Mephibosheth shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.^(A)

³ At the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she set out to appeal to the king for her house and her land.

⁶ let seven of his sons be handed over to us, and we will impale them before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.”^[a] The king said, “I will hand them over.”

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.^{(A) 8} The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab^[b] daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite;^{(B) 9} he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

⁷ David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.”^{(A) 8} He did obeisance and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?”^(B)

¹⁶ This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord’s anointed. See now, where is the king’s spear or the water jar that was at his head?”

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.^(A)