2 Samuel 9

David's Kindness to Mephibosheth

1 Now David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may a show him 1 kindness for Jonathan's sake?" 2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was b Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" He said, "At your service!" 3 Then the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show c the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who is d lame in his feet." 4 So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Indeed he is in the house of e Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar." 5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. 6 Now when f Mephibosheth 2 the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, "Mephibosheth?" And he answered, "Here is your servant!" 7 So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually." 8 Then he bowed himself, and said, "What is your servant, that you should look upon such g a dead dog as I?"

9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, h "I have given to your master's son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10 "You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's son i shall eat bread at my table always." Now Ziba had j fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do." "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, "he shall eat at 3 my table like one of the king's sons." 12 Mephibosheth had a young son k whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, l for he ate continually at the king's table. And he m was lame in both his feet.

  1. Cross References
    1 Samuel 30:14
    "We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire."
    1 Kings 1:38
    So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule, and took him to Gihon.
  2. Cross References
    1 Samuel 18:3
    Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
    1 Samuel 20:14 - 16
    And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die.
    2 Samuel 21:7
    But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
    Proverbs 27:10
    Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, Nor go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
  3. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:1 - 4
    When David was a little past the top of the mountain, there was Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth, who met him with a couple of saddled donkeys, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred clusters of raisins, one hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.
    2 Samuel 19:17
    There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king.
    2 Samuel 19:29
    So the king said to him, "Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, 'You and Ziba divide the land.'
  4. Cross References
    1 Samuel 20:14
    And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die.
  5. Cross References
    2 Samuel 4:4
    Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
  6. Cross References
    2 Samuel 17:27 - 29
    Now it happened, when David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the people of Ammon, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim.
  7. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:4
    So the king said to Ziba, "Here, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours." And Ziba said, "I humbly bow before you, that I may find favor in your sight, my lord, O king!
    2 Samuel 19:24 - 30
    Now Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace.
  8. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:9
    Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please, let me go over and take off his head!
  9. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:4
    So the king said to Ziba, "Here, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours." And Ziba said, "I humbly bow before you, that I may find favor in your sight, my lord, O king!
    2 Samuel 19:29
    So the king said to him, "Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, 'You and Ziba divide the land.
  10. Cross References
    2 Samuel 9:7
    So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.
    2 Samuel 9:11
    Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do." "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, "he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons.
    2 Samuel 9:13
    So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table. And he was lame in both his feet.
    2 Samuel 19:28
    "For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out anymore to the king?"
  11. Cross References
    2 Samuel 19:17
    There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king.
  12. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 8:34
    The son of Jonathan was MeribBa'al, and MeribBa'al begot Micah.
  13. Cross References
    2 Samuel 9:7
    So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.
    2 Samuel 9:10
    You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread at my table always." Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
    2 Samuel 9:11
    Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do." "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, "he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons.
    1 Kings 2:7
    But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
    2 Kings 25:29
    So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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