2 Samuel 9:8-13

9:8 Then Mephibosheth ¹  bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?” ² 

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. 9:10 You will cultivate ³  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce ⁴  and it will be ⁵  food for your master’s grandson to eat. ⁶  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 ⁷  at David’s table, ⁸  just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

9:12 Now Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants. 9:13 Mephibosheth was living in Jerusalem, ⁹  for he was a regular guest at the king’s table. But both his feet were crippled.

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:8]  ² tn Heb “What is your servant, that you turn to a dead dog which is like me?”

[9:10]  ³ tn Heb “work.”

[9:10]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text implies, but does not actually contain, the words “its produce” here.

[9:10]  ⁵ tc The words “it will be,” though present in the MT, are absent from the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate.

[9:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he will eat it.”

[9:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “eating.”

[9:11]  ⁸ 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.

[9:13]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.