²⁵ He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,^[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.^{(A) 26} Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.^(B)” ²⁷ But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.^(A) I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.^(B)”

⁸ Mephibosheth^(C) bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog^(D) like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson^(E) may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s^[a] table like one of the king’s sons.^(F)

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.^{(G) 13} And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

³³ The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.”

²² Solomon’s daily provisions^(A) were thirty cors^[a] of the finest flour and sixty cors^[b] of meal,

²³ ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.^(A)

²⁸ They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.