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.” ¹ 

2 Samuel 16:4

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.”

2 Samuel 9:12

9:12 Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants.

2 Samuel 16:2

16:2 The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ²  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ³  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ⁴ 

2 Samuel 9:4

9:4 The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba told the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

2 Samuel 9:9

9:9 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.

2 Samuel 19:29

19:29 Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.”

2 Samuel 9:3

9:3 The king asked, “Is there not someone left from Saul’s family, ⁵  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.”

2 Samuel 9:10-11

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.)

9:11 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 ¹⁰  at David’s table, ¹¹  just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 16:1

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, ¹²  and a container of wine.

2 Samuel 16:3

16:3 The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” ¹³  Ziba replied to the king, “He remains in Jerusalem, ¹⁴  for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give back to me my grandfather’s ¹⁵  kingdom.’”

2 Samuel 19:17

19:17 There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant ¹⁶  of Saul’s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed ¹⁷  the Jordan within sight of the king.

[9:2]  ¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[16:2]  ² tn Heb “What are these to you?”

[16:2]  ³ 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.

[16:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “to drink.”

[9:3]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[9:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “work.”

[9:10]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

[9:10]  ⁶ tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[9:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

[9:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “eating.”

[9:11]  ⁶ tc Heb “my table.” But the first person reference to David is awkward here since the quotation of David’s words has already been concluded in v. 10; nor does the “my” refer to Ziba, since the latter part of v. 11 does not seem to be part of Ziba’s response to the king. The ancient versions are not unanimous in the way that they render the phrase. The LXX has “the table of David” (τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ, th" trapezh" Dauid); the Syriac Peshitta has “the table of the king” (patureh demalka’); the Vulgate has “your table” (mensam tuam). The present translation follows the LXX.

[16:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “a hundred summer fruit.”

[16:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “son.”

[16:3]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “my father’s.”

[19:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “youth.”

[19:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “rushed into.”