2 Samuel 12

1Then Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor.”

2The rich man had very many sheep and cattle.

3But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He kept it alive, and it grew up with him and with his children together; it would eat from his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.

4A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared taking from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. So he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

5Then David burned with anger against the man greatly, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this is a son of death!”

6And he must repay the ewe lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

7Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.”

8And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you such and such things.

9Why have you despised the word of Yahweh, to do what is evil in his sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and took his wife for yourself as a wife, and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

10Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

11Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am raising up disaster against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

12For you did it in secret, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.

13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” And Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”

14Nevertheless, because by this matter you have utterly scorned the enemies of Yahweh, the son born to you will surely die.

15Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child whom Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and it became sick.

16And David sought God on behalf of the boy. David fasted a fast, and he went in and spent the night and lay on the ground.

17The elders of his house stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling, and he would not eat bread with them.

18And on the seventh day the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we say to him, ‘The child is dead’? He may do harm.”

19When David saw that his servants were whispering, David understood that the child was dead. So David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”

20Then David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of Yahweh and bowed down. Then he went to his house, asked, and they set bread before him, and he ate.

21Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you got up and ate bread.”

22He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, because I said, ‘Who knows? Yahweh may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’”

23But now he is dead. Why should I fast any longer? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.

24Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and he went in to her and lay with her. She bore a son, and he named him Solomon. And Yahweh loved him.

25And he sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, because of Yahweh.

26And Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.

27Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; I have also captured the city of waters.”

28Now gather the rest of the troops, camp against the city, and capture it, lest I capture the city and it be called by my name.

29Then David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.

30He took the crown of their king from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. He brought out the spoil of the city in very great quantity.

31And he brought out the people who were in it and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and made them labor at the brick kiln. Thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.