2 Samuel 9:1-11 ▼

1 Then David asked, |Is anyone still left from the family of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?|

2 Now there was a servant from Saul's house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, |Are you Ziba?| He replied, |At your service.|

3 The king asked, |Is there not someone left from Saul's family, that I may extend God's kindness to him?| Ziba said to the king, |One of Jonathan's sons is left; both of his feet are crippled.|

4 The king asked him, |Where is he?| Ziba told the king, |He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

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

6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed low with his face toward the ground. David said, |Mephibosheth?| He replied, |Yes, at your service.|

7 David said to him, |Don't be afraid, because I will certainly extend kindness to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. You will be a regular guest at my table.|

8 Then Mephibosheth bowed and said, |Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?|

9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's attendant, and said to him, |Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master's grandson.

10 You will cultivate the land for him--you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce and it will be food for your master's grandson to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.| (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Ziba said to the king, |Your servant will do everything that my lord the king has instructed his servant to do.| So Mephibosheth was a regular guest at David's table, just as though he were one of the king's sons.