2 Samuel 9:1-13
9 And David proceeded to say: “Is there yet anyone that is left over of the house of Saul, that I may exercise loving-kindness+ toward him for the sake of Jonʹa·than?”+
2 Now the house of Saul had a servant whose name was Ziʹba.+ So they called him to David, and the king then said to him: “Are you Ziʹba?” to which he said: “I am your servant.”
3 And the king went on to say: “Is there nobody of the house of Saul anymore, that I may exercise toward him the loving-kindness of God?”+ At this Ziʹba said to the king: “There is yet a son of Jonʹa·than, lame in the feet.”+
4 Then the king said to him: “Where is he?” So Ziʹba said to the king: “Look! He is in the house of Maʹchir+ the son of Amʹmi·el at Lo-deʹbar.”+
5 Immediately King David sent and took him from the house of Maʹchir the son of Amʹmi·el at Lo-deʹbar.
6 When Me·phibʹo·sheth the son of Jonʹa·than the son of Saul came in to David, he at once fell upon his face and prostrated himself.+ Then David said: “Me·phibʹo·sheth!” to which he said: “Here is your servant.”
7 And David went on to say to him: “Do not be afraid, for without fail I shall exercise loving-kindness+ toward you for the sake of Jonʹa·than your father;+ and I must return to you all the field+ of Saul your grandfather,* and you yourself will eat bread at my table constantly.”+
8 At that he prostrated himself and said: “What is your servant, that you have turned your face to the dead dog+ such as I am?”
9 The king now called Ziʹba, Saul’s attendant, and said to him: “Everything that had come to belong to Saul and to all his house I do give+ to the grandson* of your master.
10 And you must cultivate the ground for him, you and your sons and your servants, and you must do the gathering in, and it must serve as food* for [those belonging to] the grandson* of your master,* and they must eat; but Me·phibʹo·sheth himself, the grandson of your master, will eat bread at my table constantly.”+
Now Ziʹba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.+
11 So Ziʹba said to the king: “In accord with all that my lord the king commands for his servant is the way that your servant will do; but Me·phibʹo·sheth+ is eating at my table* like one of the sons of the king.”
12 Now Me·phibʹo·sheth had a young son* whose name was Miʹca,+ and all those dwelling in the house of Ziʹba were servants to Me·phibʹo·sheth.
13 And Me·phibʹo·sheth himself was dwelling in Jerusalem, for it was constantly at the table of the king that he was eating;+ and he was lame in both of his feet.+
Footnotes
^ Or, “father.”
^ Or, “son.”
^ Lit., “bread.”
^ “For the household,” LXXL.
^ “Your master.” Heb., ʼadho·neyʹkha, pl. of ʼa·dhohnʹ, to denote excellence.
^ “My table,” MVgc; LXX, “David’s table”; Sy, “table of the king.”
^ Lit., “a little (small) son.”
