I said to myself that your promise, sir, would make me safe, because the king is like God's angel and can distinguish good from evil. May the Lord your God be with you!”
“Where is Mephibosheth, the grandson of your master Saul?” the king asked him. “He is staying in Jerusalem,” Ziba answered, “because he is convinced that the Israelites will now restore to him the kingdom of his grandfather Saul.”
He had with him a thousand men from the tribe of Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of Saul's family, also came with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, and they arrived at the Jordan before the king.
The king asked him, “Is there anyone left of Saul's family to whom I can show loyalty and kindness, as I promised God I would?” Ziba answered, “There is still one of Jonathan's sons. He is crippled.”
Everyone must be on guard against their friends, and no one can trust their relatives; for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob, and everyone slanders their friends.