2 Samuel 19:26-27

19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ¹  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ²  am lame. 19:27 But my servant ³  has slandered me ⁴  to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you.

2 Samuel 9:2

9:2 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.” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 9:10

9:10 You will cultivate ⁶  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce ⁷  and it will be ⁸  food for your master’s grandson to eat. ⁹  But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

2 Samuel 16:1-4

David Receives Gifts from Ziba

16:1 When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, ¹⁰  and a container of wine.

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ¹¹  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ¹²  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ¹³  16:3 The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” ¹⁴  Ziba replied to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem, ¹⁵  for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me my grandfather’s ¹⁶  kingdom.’” 16:4 The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

² tn Heb “your servant.”

³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “your servant.”

⁵ tn Heb “your servant.”

⁶ tn Heb “work.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

⁸ tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

⁹ tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”

¹¹ tn Heb “What are these to you?”

¹² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְהַלֶּחֶם (vÿhallekhem, “and the bread”) rather than וּלְהַלֶּחֶם (ulÿhallekhem, “and to the bread”) of the Kethib. The syntax of the MT is confused here by the needless repetition of the preposition, probably taken from the preceding word.

¹³ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “son.”

¹⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁶ tn Heb “my father’s.”