¹⁷ The man who first puts his cause before the judge seems to be in the right; but then his neighbour comes and puts his cause in its true light.

¹³ To give an answer before hearing is a foolish thing and a cause of shame.

¹ And when David had gone a little way past the top of the slope, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came to him, with two asses on which were two hundred cakes of bread and a hundred stems of dry grapes and a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine.

² And David said to Ziba, What is your reason for this? And Ziba said, The asses are for the use of the king's people, and the bread and the fruit are food for the young men; and the wine is for drink for those who are overcome by weariness in the waste land.

³ And the king said, And where is your master's son? And Ziba said, He is still at Jerusalem: for he said, Today Israel will give back to me the kingdom of my father.

²⁴ And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son, came down for the purpose of meeting the king; his feet had not been cared for or his hair cut or his clothing washed from the day when the king went away till the day when he came back in peace.

²⁵ Now when he had come from Jerusalem to see the king, the king said to him, Why did you not come with me, Mephibosheth?

²⁶ And he said in answer, Because of the deceit of my servant, my lord king: for I, your servant, said to him, You are to make ready an ass and on it I will go with the king, for your servant has not the use of his feet.

²⁷ He has given you a false account of me: but my lord the king is like the angel of God: do then whatever seems good to you.

¹² And they have not seen me in argument with any man in the Temple, or working up the feelings of the people, in the Synagogues or in the town:

¹³ And they are not able to give facts in support of the things which they say against me now.