2nd Samuel Chapter 9 verse 8 Holy Bible
And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
read chapter 9 in ASV
And he went down on his face before the king, and said, What is your servant, for you to take note of a dead dog such as I am?
read chapter 9 in BBE
And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
read chapter 9 in DARBY
And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
read chapter 9 in KJV
And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?
read chapter 9 in WBT
He did obeisance, and said, "What is your servant, that you should look on such a dead dog as I am?"
read chapter 9 in WEB
And he boweth himself, and saith, `What `is' thy servant, that thou hast turned unto the dead dog -- such as I?'
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - A dead dog. At first sight this extreme self-humiliation makes us look on Mephibosheth as a poor creature, whom early misfortune and personal deformity had combined to depress But really this is to impose on an Oriental hyperbole a Western exactness of meaning. When in the East your entertainer assures you that everything he has to his last dirhem is yours, he nevertheless expects you to pay twice the value foreverything you consume; but he makes his exaction pleasant by his extreme courtliness. So Ephron offered his cave at Machpelah to Abraham as a free gift, but he took care to obtain for it an exorbitant price (Genesis 23:11, 15). Mephibosheth described himself in terms similar to those used by David of himself to Saul (1 Samuel 24:14); but he meant no more than to express great gratitude, and also to acknowledge the disparity of rank between him and the king.