² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!”^(A)

¹⁷ with him were a thousand people from Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king^(A)

David’s Adversaries

16 When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, carrying two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred bunches of raisins, one hundred of summer fruits, and one skin of wine.^{(A) 2} The king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine is for those to drink who faint in the wilderness.”^{(B) 3} The king said, “And where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back my grandfather’s kingdom.’ ”^{(C) 4} Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” Ziba said, “I do obeisance; let me find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

²⁷ He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you.^{(A) 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?”^{(B) 29} The king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.”

⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and with him there he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking.

² Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,^(A)

² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”^{[a](A) 3} And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”^(B)