2 Samuel 19:28

For all the house of my grandfather deserves death from my lord the king, yet you have set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right, then, do I have to keep appealing to the king?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Mephibosheth addresses King David after returning to Jerusalem, responding to the king’s inquiry about the land dispute with Ziba. He speaks at the moment of his political restoration, acknowledging his family’s past treason while noting his current protected status.

The words — The Hebrew כִּי (ki) renders as “for” or “that,” and אִם (im) means “except” or “if,” forming the logical pivot of the speaker’s statement. These terms structure the explicit contrast between inherited guilt and granted provision before the rhetorical question closes the appeal.

The thread — The text’s reference to eating at the king’s table directly echoes 2 Samuel 9:13, where Mephibosheth’s ongoing provision is first recorded. The land division command in 2 Samuel 19:29 immediately follows, while the theme of unmerited royal kindness parallels Genesis 32:10.

Why it lands — The verse states that royal grace supersedes inherited guilt, leaving no remaining ground for further petitions. It requires the reader to accept that provision is granted by decree, not negotiated by merit.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

For all of my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?

Cross-references

2 Samuel 9:13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both feet.
2 Samuel 9:10 You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Genesis 32:10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
1 Samuel 26:16 This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”
2 Samuel 9:7 “Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
2 Samuel 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
2 Kings 8:3 At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land.