2 Samuel 9:11

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 ¹  at David’s table, ²  just as though he were one of the king’s sons.

2 Samuel 10:2

10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty ³  to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal ⁴  to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. ⁵  When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites,

2 Samuel 18:5

18:5 The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

[9:11]  ¹ tn Heb “eating.”

[9:11]  ² 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.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “do loyalty.”

[10:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “did loyalty.”

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and David sent to console him by the hand of his servants concerning his father.”