23. So the sovereign said to Shim‛i, “You do not die.” And the sovereign swore to him.
24. And Mephiḇosheth son of Sha’ul came down to meet the sovereign. And he had not attended to his feet, nor trimmed his moustache, nor washed his garments, from the day the sovereign went away until the day he came back in peace.
25. And it came to be, when he had come to Yerushalayim to meet the sovereign, that the sovereign said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephiḇosheth?”
26. And he answered, “My master, O sovereign, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I am saddling a donkey for myself to ride on it and go to the sovereign,’ because your servant is lame.
27. “And he spoke slander against your servant to my master the sovereign, but my master the sovereign is as a messenger of Elohim. Therefore do what is good in your eyes.
28. “For all of my father’s house were but dead men before my master the sovereign. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out any more to the sovereign?”
29. Then the sovereign said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Tsiḇa share the land.’ ”
30. And Mephiḇosheth said to the sovereign, “Rather, let him take it all, since my master the sovereign has come back in peace to his own house.”
31. And Barzillai the Gil‛aḏite came down from Rog̅elim and passed over the Yardĕn with the sovereign, to send him on his way over the Yardĕn.
32. And Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. And he had sustained the sovereign while he was dwelling at Maḥanayim, for he was a very rich man.
33. And the sovereign said to Barzillai, “Pass over with me, and I shall provide for you with me in Yerushalayim.”
34. But Barzillai said to the sovereign, “How many are the days of my life, that I should go up with the sovereign to Yerushalayim?
35. “I am now eighty years old. Do I discern between the good and evil? Does your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Do I still hear the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my master the sovereign?
36. “Your servant would only pass over the Yardĕn with the sovereign for a short distance. And why should the sovereign repay me with such a reward?
37. “Please let your servant turn back again to die in my own city, near the burying-place of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham, let him pass over with my master the sovereign, and do for him what is good in your eyes.”
38. And the sovereign answered, “Kimham is passing over with me, and let me do for him what is good in your eyes. Now whatever you choose of me, I do for you.”