2 Samuel 9 – Mephibosheth & God’s Kindness

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 3 April 2022

Introduction

1) Mephibosheth introduced

2) Mephibosheth’s Point of View

3) David’s Generous Mercy

Application

2 Samuel 9Side-by-side comparison of versionsA

LXX

Brenton

DRB

KJV

NAW

MT

1 Καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ Εἰ ἔστιν ἔτι ὑπολελειμμένος τῷ οἴκῳ Σαουλ καὶ ποιήσω μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἕνεκεν Ιωναθαν;

1 And David said, Is there yet any one left in the house of Saul, that I may deal kindly with him for Jonathan's sake?

1 And David said: Is there any one, think you, left of the house of Saul, that I may shew kindness to him for Jonathan's sake?

1 And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew X him kindness for Jonathan's sake?

1 Presently, David said, “Is it possible that there is someone still left belonging to the house of Saul, that I might enact lovingkindness with him for the sake of Jonathan?”

1 וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד הֲכִי יֶשׁ-עוֹד אֲשֶׁר נוֹתַר לְבֵית שָׁאוּל וְאֶעֱשֶׂה עִמּוֹ חֶסֶד בַּעֲבוּר יְהוֹנָתָן:

2 καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου Σαουλ παῖς ἦν καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Σιβα, καὶ καλοῦσιν αὐτὸν πρὸς Δαυιδ. καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλεύς Εἰ σὺ εἶ Σιβα; καὶ εἶπεν Ἐγὼ δοῦλος σός.

2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul, and his name was Siba: and they call him to David; and the king said to him, Art thou Siba? and he said, I am thy servant.

2 Now there was of the house of Saul, a servant X X named Siba: and when the king had called him to him, he said to him: Art thou Siba? And he answered: I am [Siba] thy servant.

2 And there was of the house of Saul a servant X whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he.

2 Now, there was a servant belonging to the house of Saul, and his name was Tsiba, so they called him unto David. Then the king said to him, “Are you Tsiba?” And he said, “I am your servant.”

2 וּלְבֵית שָׁאוּל עֶבֶד וּשְׁמוֹ צִיבָא וַיִּקְרְאוּ-לוֹ אֶל-דָּוִד וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵלָיו הַאַתָּה צִיבָא וַיֹּאמֶר עַבְדֶּךָ:

3 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεύς Εἰ ὑπολέλειπται ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου Σαουλ ἔτι ἀνὴρ καὶ ποιήσω μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος θεοῦ; καὶ εἶπεν Σιβα πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἔτι ἔστιν υἱὸς τῷ Ιωναθαν πεπληγὼς τοὺς πόδας.

3 And the king said, Is there yet a man left of the house of Saul, that I may act towards him with the mercy of God? and Siba said to the king, There is yet a son of Jonathan, lame [of his] feet.

3 And the king said: Is there any one left of the house of Saul, that I may shew the mercy of God unto Him? And Siba said to the king: There is a son of Jonathan left, who is lame [of his] feet.

3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame [on] his feet.

3 So the king said, “Is there not still a man belonging to the house of Saul that I might enact with him the lovingkindness of God?” And Tsiba said to the king, “There is still a son belonging to Jonathan. He is crippled in both feet.”

3 וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ הַאֶפֶס עוֹד אִישׁ לְבֵית שָׁאוּל וְאֶעֱשֶׂה עִמּוֹ חֶסֶד אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר צִיבָא אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ עוֹד בֵּן לִיהוֹנָתָן נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם:

4 καὶ εἶπεν X ὁ βασιλεύς Ποῦ οὗτος; καὶ εἶπεν Σιβα πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἰδοὺ ἐν οἴκῳ Μαχιρ υἱοῦ Αμιηλ ἐκ τῆς Λαδαβαρ.

4 And the king said X X, Where is he? and Siba said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Amiel of Lodabar.

4 X Where is he? said he X X X. And Siba said to the king: Behold he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lodabar.

4 And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.

4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Tsiba said to the king, “He is there at the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.”

4 וַיֹּאמֶר-לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵיפֹה הוּא וַיֹּאמֶר צִיבָא אֶל- הַמֶּלֶךְ הִנֵּה- הוּא בֵּית מָכִיר בֶּן- עַמִּיאֵלB בְּלוֹC דְבָר:

5 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Δαυιδ καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου Μαχιρ υἱοῦ Αμιηλ ἐκ τῆς Λαδαβαρ.

5 And king David went, and took him out of the house of Machir the son Amiel of Lodabar.

5 Then King David sent, and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodabar.

5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.

5 Then King David sent and got him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-Debar.

5 וַיִּשְׁלַח הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד וַיִּקָּחֵהוּ מִבֵּית מָכִיר בֶּן-עַמִּיאֵל מִלּוֹ דְבָר:

6 καὶ παραγίν­εται Μεμφιβο­σθε υἱὸς Ιωνα­θαν υἱοῦ Σαουλ πρὸς [τὸν βασι­λέα] Δαυιδ καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσ­ωπον αὐτοῦ καὶ προσ­εκύνησεν αὐτῷD. καὶ εἶπεν [αὐτῷ] Δαυιδ Μεμφιβοσθε· καὶ εἶπεν Ἰδοὺ ὁ δοῦλός σου.

6 And Memphibosthe the son of Jona­than the son of Saul comes to [the king] Da­vid, and he fell upon his face and did obeisance to him: and David said [to him], Me­­phibosthe: and he said, Behold thy servant.

6 And when Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul was come to David, he fell on his face and worship­ped. And Da­v­id said: Mi­ph­iboseth? And he answered: Behold thy servant.

6 [Now] when Mephibosheth, the son of Jon­athan, the son of Saul, was come unto Da­vid, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!

6 Presently, Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he said, “Here is your servant.”

6 וַיָּבֹא מְפִיבֹשֶׁת בֶּן- יְהוֹנָתָן בֶּן- שָׁאוּל אֶל-דָּוִד וַיִּפֹּל עַל-פָּנָיו וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד מְפִיבֹשֶׁת וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה עַבְדֶּךָ:

7 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Δαυιδ Μὴ φοβοῦ, ὅτι ποιῶν ποιήσω μετὰ σοῦ ἔλεος διὰ Ιωναθαν τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ ἀποκαταστήσω σοι πάντα ἀγρὸν Σαουλ [πατρὸς τοῦ] πατρός σου, καὶ σὺ φάγῃ ἄρτον ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μου διὰ παντός.

7 And David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely deal mercifully with thee for the sake of Jonathan thy father, and I will restore to thee all the land of Saul [the father of] thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.

7 And David said to him: Fear not, for I will surely shew thee mercy for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore X X the land[s] of Saul the father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table always.

7 And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.

7 And David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will certainly enact lovingkindness with you on account of Jonathan your father, so I will return to you every property of Saul your forefather, and, as for you, you may eat a meal at my table anytime!”

7 וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ דָוִד אַל-תִּירָא כִּי עָשֹׂה אֶעֱשֶׂה עִמְּךָ חֶסֶד בַּעֲבוּר יְהוֹנָתָן אָבִיךָ וַהֲשִׁבֹתִי לְךָ אֶת-כָּל- שְׂדֵה שָׁאוּל אָבִיךָ וְאַתָּה תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם עַל-שֻׁלְחָנִי תָּמִיד:

8 καὶ προσ­εκύνησεν [Μεμ­φιβοσθε] καὶ εἶπεν Τίς [εἰμι] ὁ δοῦλός σου, ὅτι ἐπέβλεψας ἐπὶ τὸν κύνα τὸν τεθνηκότα τὸν ὅμοιον ἐμοί;

8 And [Memphibosthe] did obeisance, and said, Who [am I] thy servant, that thou hast looked upon a dead dog like me?

8 X He bowed down to him, and said: Who [am I] thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?

8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou should­est look upon such a dead dog as I am?

8 Then he prostrated himself and said, “Who {am I} your servant, that you have turned to face the dead dog such as I am?”

8 וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ וַיֹּאמֶר מֶה עַבְדֶּךָ כִּי פָנִיתָ אֶל-הַכֶּלֶב הַמֵּת אֲשֶׁר כָּמוֹנִי:

9 καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς X Σιβα τὸ παιδά­ριον Σαουλ καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν Πάντα, ὅσα ἐστὶν τῷ Σαουλ καὶ ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, δέδωκα τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ κυρίου σου·

9 And the king called X Siba the servant of Saul, and said to him, All that belonged to Saul and to all his house have I given to the son of thy lord.

9 Then the King called X Siba the servant of Saul, and said to him: All that belonged to Saul, and all his house, I have given to thy master's son.

9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house.

9 And the king called Tsiba, the servant of Saul and said to him, “All that had belonged to Saul and to all his house, I hereby give to the son of your master.

9 וַיִּקְרָא הַמֶּלֶךְ Eאֶל-צִיבָא נַעַר שָׁאוּל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כֹּל אֲשֶׁר הָיָה לְשָׁאוּל וּלְכָל-בֵּיתוֹ נָתַתִּי לְבֶן- אֲדֹנֶיךָ:

10 καὶ ἐργᾷ αὐτῷ τὴν γῆν, σὺ καὶ οἱ υἱοί σου καὶ οἱ δοῦλοί σου, καὶ εἰσοίσεις τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ κυρίου σου ἄρτους, καὶ ἔδεται αὐτούς·



καὶ Μεμφιβο
­σθε υἱὸς τοῦ κυρίου σου φάγεται διὰ παντὸς ἄρτον ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μου. (καὶ τῷ Σιβα ἦσαν πεντεκαίδεκα υἱοὶ καὶ εἴκοσι δοῦλοι. )

10 And thou, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him; and thou shalt bring in bread to the son of thy lord, and he shall eat breadF:

and Memphibosthe the son of thy lord shall eat bread continually at my table. Now Siba had fifteen sons and twen
­ty servants.

10 Thou therefore and the sons and thy servants shall till the land for him: and thou shalt bring in food for thy master's son, that he may be maintained:

and Miphiboseth the son of thy master shall always eat bread at my table. And Siba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

10 Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat:

but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

10 Furthermore, you shall work the land for him, you and your sons and your servants, and you shall bring {food} for the son of your master, that he may have food to eat.

But Mephibo­sheth, the son of your master may eat a meal anytime at my table.” (By the way, Tsiba had 15 sons and 20 servants.)

10 וְעָבַדְתָּ לּוֹ אֶת-הָאֲדָמָה אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ וַעֲבָדֶיךָ וְהֵבֵאתָ וְהָיָהG לְבֶן- אֲדֹנֶיךָ לֶּחֶם וַאֲכָלוֹH

וּמְפִיבֹשֶׁת בֶּן- אֲדֹנֶיךָ יֹאכַל תָּמִיד לֶחֶם עַל- שֻׁלְחָנִי וּלְצִיבָא חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בָּנִים וְעֶשְׂרִים עֲבָדִים:

11 καὶ εἶπεν Σιβα πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Κατὰ πάντα, ὅσα ἐντέταλται ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ, οὕτως ποιήσει ὁ δοῦλός σου. καὶ Μεμφιβοσθε ἤσθιεν ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης Δαυιδ καθὼς εἷς τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ βασιλέως.

11 And Siba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will thy servant do. And Memphibosthe did eat at the table of David, as one of the sons of the king.

11 And Siba said to the king: As thou my lord the hast commanded thy servant, so will thy servant do: and Miphiboseth shall eat at myI table, as one of the sons of the King.

11 Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons.

11 Then Tsiba said to the king, “According to all that my master the King commands his servant, so shall your servant do!” And Mephibosheth was eating at {David’s} table like one of the sons of the king.

11 וַיֹּאמֶר צִיבָא אֶל- הַמֶּלֶךְ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת-עַבְדּוֹ כֵּן יַעֲשֶׂה עַבְדֶּךָ וּמְפִיבֹשֶׁת אֹכֵלJ עַל- שֻׁלְחָנִיK כְּאַחַד מִבְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ:

12 καὶ τῷ Μεμφιβοσθε υἱὸς μικρὸς καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Μιχα. καὶ πᾶσα ἡ κατοίκησις τοῦ οἴκου Σιβα δοῦλοι τοῦ Μεμφιβοσθε.

12 And Memphibosthe had a little son, and his name was Micha: and all X X the household of Siba were servants to Memphibosthe.

12 And Miphiboseth had a young son whose name was Micha: and all that kindredL of the house of Siba served Miphiboseth.

12 And Me­phibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micha. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.

12 (There was also young son who belonged to Mephibosheth, and his name was Mica.) So all who resided in the house of Tsiba became servants to Mephibosheth,

12 וְלִמְפִיבֹשֶׁת בֵּן-קָטָן וּשְׁמוֹ מִיכָא וְכֹל מוֹשַׁב בֵּית- צִיבָא עֲבָדִים לִמְפִיבֹשֶׁת:

13 καὶ Μεμφι­βοσθε κατῴκει ἐν Ιερουσαλημ, ὅτι ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ παντὸς ἤσθιεν· καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν χωλὸς ἀμφοτέρ­οις τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ.

13 And Memphibosthe dwelt in Jerusalem, for he continually ate at the table of the king; and he was lame in both his feet.

13 But Miphiboseth dwelt in Jerusalem: because he ate always of the king's table: and he was lame of both X feet.

13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and X was lame on both his feet.

13 and Mephibosheth resided in Jerusalem since he could eat at the table of the king anytime and he was crippled in both of his feet.

13 וּמְפִיבֹשֶׁת יֹשֵׁב בִּירוּשָׁלִַם כִּי עַל-שֻׁלְחַן הַמֶּלֶךְ תָּמִיד הוּא אֹכֵל Mוְהוּא פִּסֵּחַ שְׁתֵּי רַגְלָיו:פ


11 Chron. 8:34 “The son of Jonathan was Merib-Baal, and Merib-Baal begot Micah… 9:40 The son of Jonathan was Merib-Baal, and Merib-Baal begot Micah.” (NKJV)

2This is suggested by Matthew Henry and by John Gill in their commentaries.

3This was suggested by Keil & Delitzsch and by Tsumura in their commentaries.

4This was Willett’s position and that of many Jewish commentators, based on Lev. 25:46; though Josephus (Antiquities l. 7. c. 5.) claimed that Saul had emancipated Tsiba.

5Alternately, some commentators suggested that “son of your master” refers to Jonathan’s son Mica instead of to Saul’s son Mephibosheth.

6For this reason, some commentators (Klostermann, McCarter) have suggested that this happened after the events described in chapter 21, but Tsumura argued against it.

7In the Soncino commentary, Goldman wrote, based on the presence of a young son, that Mephibosheth must have been at least 19 years old at the time. Based on the same fact, Gill posited that it was a “long time after David was established in the kingdom.” Willett asserted confidently that Mephibosheth was 12, which would have been as soon as David assumed the throne over all Israel. The fact is, nobody knows for sure.

8I’m indebted to Goldman for pointing this out. 2 Samuel 12:7-8 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah...”

9Numbers 27:8 “And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.’” (NKJV)
The supposition that K&D and some earlier Rabbi’s made that David could use his power as king to re-assign the property of other persons might be consistent with wicked monarchs like Jezebel, but would not be consistent with the justice which David upheld.

10Depending on how you count the numbers in 1 Sam. 16, there were 6 or 7 brothers besides him, and he had at least one sister named Tseruiah.

AMy original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright restrictions have forced me to remove them from the publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB, or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing 2 Samuel 9 is 4Q51Samuela, which contains fragments of vs. 8-10, and which has been dated between 50-25 B.C. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored purple. Where the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text not in the MT, I have highlighted with yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.

BAlthough there are other Machir’s and other Ammiel’s, this particular Machir son of Ammiel seems only to be mentioned in one other place (2 Sam. 17:27), as one of the folks who supported David during Absalom’s coup.

CSeveral Hebrew manuscripts read מלו (“from Lo…”), and this is the reading of the Syriac and Septuagint. This is also the reading of the MT at the end of the next verse. Several Manuscripts, including Targums retain the beth preposition of the MT here, but change the last letter to another letter that sounds the same: בלא (“in Lo…”). This doesn’t change the story at all.

DThe Hishtaphel stem of this Hebrew word ends with a sureq as part of the 3rd singular spelling, but it looks like a 3rd plural or a pronomial suffix (as the LXX interpreted it here) from a more common stem spelling. The Hishtaphel stem is rare, but it indicates both causative and reflexive action.

EThe DSS is illegible at this point, but it does not have enough space for all the text in the MT – it’s about 8 characters (including spaces) short. The Syriac is about 10 characters shorter than the MT (including the maqqef), as it omits “servant of Saul” and abbreviates the “to” in “to Tsiba,” down to only one character. The LXX and Vulgate read as though the “to” is entirely missing from the Hebrew manuscript they were looking at, which would shorten the MT by 3 characters, but they both include the phrase “servant of Saul.”

FThe Vaticanus reads αρτους (“bread”) but the LXX reads αυτους (“them”), while the MT reads “it.” This suggests that the Vaticanus scribe was (mis-)copying an LXX text rather than translating from the MT.

GLXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all read as though the Hebrew word was “bread” rather than the verb of being.

HTwo Hebrew manuscripts omit the prepositional ending on this word, and so does the Syriac and some Greek mss.

IVulgate actually reads mensam tuamyour table.”

JA couple of Hebrew manuscripts read Imperfect יאכל (he would eat”) instead of the MT’s participle form (“he was eating”), and the LXX follows them instead of the MT with an indicative ἤσθιεν, but since the LXX chose an imperfect tense, it translates the same as the MT (“he was eating”). Another way to translate the participle would be in the future tense, as Tsumura did (“Mephibosheth is going to eat at my table”). The Syriacומפיבשׁת אכל הוא kept the participial form from the MT and added a pronoun “he” (“and Mephibosheth he was eating…”). There really is no difference in meaning. Syriac also inserts the word “bread/food” לחמא here, which, with the verb “eat,” could go without saying, and changes nothing.

KThe MT (and Targums) appear to have a first person singular pronomial ending (or perhaps a plural construct ending – but if so, it’s missing an absolute state noun to end the construct chain). The Geneva, KJV, and RV, and AJV are translations of the MT, “Mephibosheth shall eat at my table.” The problem is that this follows seamlessly from a speech by Tsiba, and it would inappropriate for Tsiba to insist on hosting Mephibosheth at meals after David had just insisted on hosting Mephibosheth at meals (although Henry suggested that Tsiba said this out of a crooked heart, and K&D suggested that Tsiba was honest and using a figure of speech referring to sharing profits as though it were eating at his table). Kimchi (followed by Junius, Peter Martyr, and Erlich) reconciled this by making the conjunction a consessive one (“although Mephibosheth could have eaten at my table”). Willett and McCarter and others suggested that Mephibosheth ate at David’s table while the rest of his family ate at Tsiba’s table, but I have a hard time accepting that. The KJV (following Rashi and followed by Gill and Tsumura) reconciled this by adding the words, “said the king,” in order to change the speaker from Tsiba to David, but the editor of the books of Samuel was always careful to tell us who is speaking to whom, so this would be highly irregular, so even this literal translation of the MT indicates that some text has fallen out of the MT. One Hebrew manuscript lengthens the last character in the Hebrew word from yod to vav, changing the 1st person singular pronoun to 3rd person (“Mephibosheth ate at his table”), but this would indicate in Hebrew that it was his own table, not David’s, so it doesn’t fix the problem. The Vulgate reads the pronoun as 2nd person (stretching it torturously from a yod to a final coph), but it fits nicely in Tsiba’s mouth (“Mephibosheth will eat at your table…”), however, in the English version of the Vulgate, Douay inexplicably resorted back to the MT’s 1st person pronoun. Other ancient versions solved the problem from a missing-word perspective: The Septuagint inserted “of David” after the word for “table” (followed by the NASB, NIV, ESV, NET, and NLT, likewise Vatabulus, Willett, K&D), and the Syriac Peshitta inserted דמלכא of the king” after the word for “table” (followed by Goldman, as it is in the MT of v.13), both of which make sense. In fact, everyone seems to be agreed on basically the same meaning; they are all just trying to make sense of the odd word in the MT. The manuscript evidence just doesn’t point us conclusively in any one direction for the solution. How it might be wished that there were a DSS with this verse for comparison!

LCognatio seems a strange rendering when the LXX, MT, Targums, and Syriac are united in the meaning of “dwell.”

MGill, claiming to follow Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, and Patrick, suggested translating this conjunction as “although”.

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