2 Samuel 9

Common English Bible

David and Mephibosheth

9 David asked, “Is there anyone from Saul’s family still alive that I could show faithful love for Jonathan’s sake?” ² There was a servant from Saul’s household named Ziba, and he was summoned before David.

“Are you Ziba?” the king asked him.

“At your service!” he answered.

³ The king asked, “Is there anyone left from Saul’s family that I could show God’s kindness to?”

“Yes,” Ziba said to the king, “one of Jonathan’s sons, whose feet are crippled.”

⁴ “Where is he?” the king asked.

“He is at the house of Ammiel’s son Machir at Lo-debar,” Ziba told the king.

⁵ So King David had him brought from the house of Ammiel’s son Machir at Lo-debar. ⁶ Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson, came to David, and he fell to the ground, bowing low out of respect.

“Mephibosheth?” David said.

“Yes,” he replied. “I am at your service!”

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David told him, “because I will certainly show you faithful love for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the fields of your grandfather Saul, and you will eat at my table always.”

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed low out of respect and said, “Who am I, your servant, that you should care about a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then David summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything belonging to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You will work the land for him—you, your sons, and your servants—and you will bring food into your master’s house for them to eat.^[a] But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always be at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my master the king commands.”

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s^[b] table, like one of the king’s own sons. ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All who lived in Ziba’s household became Mephibosheth’s servants. ¹³ Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table. He was crippled in both feet.