2 Samuel - Chapter 12

^{1 ①} So Yahweh sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to the king and said to him, “There were two men in a city: one was rich; the other, poor. ²The rich man had many sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb he had bought. He himself fed it and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and slept on his lap. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man, but he would not take from his own flock or herd to prepare food for the traveler. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for his visitor.”

⁵David was furious because of this man and told Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves death! ⁶He must return the lamb fourfold for acting like this and showing no compassion.”

⁷Nathan said to David, “You are this man! It is Yahweh, God of Israel, who speaks: ‘I anointed you king over Israel and saved you from Saul’s hands; ⁸I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives; I also gave you the nation of Israel and Judah. But if this were not enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why did you despise Yahweh by doing what displeases him? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife for yourself. Yes, you killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now the sword will never be far from your family because you have despised me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself. ¹¹Thus says Yahweh: Your misfortune will rise from your own house! I will take your wives from you and give them to your neighbor who shall lie with them in broad daylight. ¹²What you did was done secretly, but what I do will be done before Israel in broad daylight.” ¹³David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan answered him, “Yahweh has forgiven your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴However, because you have dared to despise Yahweh by doing such a thing, the child that is born to you shall die.” ^{15 ②} Then Nathan left and went to his house.
Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and it became sick. ¹⁶David entreated God for the child; he kept a strict fast and lay on the ground the whole night. ¹⁷The elders of his house asked him to rise from the ground but he refused. Nor did he join them to eat. ¹⁸On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead for they said, “When the child was still alive, we spoke to him but he would not listen to us. What will he do if we tell him the child is dead?” ¹⁹When David saw his servants whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead and asked them, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “He is dead.” ²⁰Then David rose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the house of Yahweh and worshiped.
After that, he went to his own house, asked for food and ate. ²¹Then his servants asked him, “Why are you acting like this? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but after it died, you got up and took food.” ²²David answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept thinking: who knows? Perhaps Yahweh will be kind to me and let my child live. ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back to life? I can go to him but he cannot return to me.” ²⁴David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went in and slept with her and she bore a son whom he named Solomon. Yahweh loved him ²⁵and made it known through Nathan the prophet, who named him Jedidiah on Yahweh’s behalf. ²⁶Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and conquered the king’s city. ²⁷Then he sent messengers to David and told him, “I have fought against Rabbah and conquered the city of waters. ²⁸Gather then the rest of the people to attack and capture the city lest I myself do it and the city be called by my name.” ²⁹So David mustered the people, attacked and captured Rabbah. ³⁰He took the crown of their god Milkom from its head, the weight of which was a talent of gold, and which had a precious stone embedded in it. This they put on David’s head. He carried off an amount of booty ³¹and brought away the people whom he set to labor with saws, iron picks and iron axes, making them work at the brick-kilns. David dealt like this with all the Ammonite cities, then he returned to Jerusalem with all the people.