⁴ (Jonathan^(A) son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news^(B) about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled.^(C) His name was Mephibosheth.)^(D)

David and Mephibosheth

9 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”^(A)

² Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba.^(B) They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

“At your service,” he replied.

³ The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”

Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan;^(C) he is lame^(D) in both feet.”

⁴ “Where is he?” the king asked.

Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir^(E) son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

⁵ So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

⁶ When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.^(F)

David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“At your service,” he replied.

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.^(G) I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.^(H)”

⁸ Mephibosheth^(I) bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog^(J) like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson^(K) may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s^[a] table like one of the king’s sons.^(L)

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.^{(M) 13} And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

David and Ziba

16 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba,^(A) the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.^(B)

² The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?”

Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh^(C) those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”

³ The king then asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?”^(D)

Ziba^(E) said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’”

⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth^(F) is now yours.”

“I humbly bow,” Ziba said. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”

²⁴ Mephibosheth,^(A) Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. ²⁵ When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me,^(B) Mephibosheth?”

²⁶ He said, “My lord the king, since I your servant am lame,^(C) I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it, so I can go with the king.’ But Ziba^(D) my servant betrayed me. ²⁷ And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an angel^(E) of God; so do whatever you wish. ²⁸ All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death^(F) from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table.^(G) So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?”

²⁹ The king said to him, “Why say more? I order you and Ziba to divide the land.”

³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely.”

⁷ The king spared Mephibosheth^(A) son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath^(B) before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul.