³ And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show ^(A)the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of ^(B)Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.”

^4 (A)Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan ^(B)came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(A)Love your enemies and ^(B)pray for those who persecute you, ^45 (C)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and ^(D)sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

³ For ^(A)we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. ⁴ But when ^(B)the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

^36 (A)Be merciful, even as ^(B)your Father is merciful.

²⁶ He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself,^[a] that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For ^(A)your servant is lame.

¹⁴ If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die; ^15 (A)and do not cut off^[a] your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶ And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, ^(B)“May^[b] the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, ^(C)for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

¹⁵ Yet ^(A)the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

³⁷ And because ^(A)he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them^[a] and brought you out of Egypt ^(B)with his own presence, by his great power,