17. With him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king.
18. They crossed the ford to bring the household of the king across and to do what was pleasing in his eyes.Shimei the son of Gera fell before the king as he was crossing the Jordan,
19. and he said to the king, “Do not regard me as guilty, my lord, or remember how your servant went astray the day when my lord the king went out from Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.
20. For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, I have come this day, first from all of the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.”
21. Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the anointed of the Lord?”
22. David said, “What do you sons of Zeruiah have against me that you should become an adversary to me today? Should any man in Israel be put to death today? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”
23. The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king gave him his oath.
24. Then Mephibosheth the son of Saul went down to meet the king. He had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he came back in peace.
25. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”
26. He said, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle the mule for myself in order to ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame.
27. But he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Still my lord the king is as the angel of God, so do what seems best to you.
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 table. What right do I have to cry out any more to the king?”
29. The king said to him, “Why do you still speak of your affairs? I say that you and Ziba shall divide the field.”
30. Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take everything, since my lord the king has come safely to his house.”
31. Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim in order to see the king across the Jordan.
32. Barzillai was very old, eighty years old. But he sustained the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man.
33. The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.”
34. Barzillai said to the king, “How many days are left in my life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?