2 Samuel 19:25-31

19:25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” 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. 19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ⁵  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ⁶  What further claim do I have to ask ⁷  the king for anything?”

19:29 Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.” 19:30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him have ⁸  the whole thing! My lord the king has returned safely ⁹  to his house!”

19:31 Now when Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, he crossed the Jordan with the king so he could send him on his way from there. ¹⁰ 

[19:26]  ¹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:26]  ² tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:27]  ³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “father.”

[19:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

[19:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “to cry out to.”

[19:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “take.”

[19:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “in peace.”

[19:31]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reading אֶת־בַיַּרְדֵּן (’et-vayyarden, “in the Jordan”) is odd syntactically. The use of the preposition after the object marker אֶת (’et) is difficult to explain. Graphic confusion is likely in the MT; the translation assumes the reading מִיַּרְדֵּן (miyyarden, “from the Jordan”). Another possibility is to read the definite article on the front of “Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן, hayyarden; “the Jordan”).