2 Samuel 9

New American Standard Bible 1995

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

9 Then David said, “Is there yet ^[a]anyone left of the house of Saul, ^(A)that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you ^(B)Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the ^(C)kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “^(D)There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” ⁴ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is ^(E)in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. ^6 (F)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and ^(G)fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ David said to him, “Do not fear, for ^(H)I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and ^(I)will restore to you all the ^[b]land of your ^[c]grandfather Saul; and ^(J)you shall ^[d]eat at my table regularly.” ⁸ Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard ^(K)a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king called Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “^(L)All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s ^[e]grandson. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless ^(M)Mephibosheth your master’s grandson ^(N)shall ^[f]eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According ^(O)to all that my lord the king commands his servant so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at ^[g]David’s table as one of the king’s sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for ^(P)he ate at the king’s table regularly. Now ^(Q)he was lame in both feet.