2 Samuel 12
1BUT the deed which David had done appeared evil in the sight of the Lord; therefore the Lord sent Nathan, the prophet, to David. And when he came to David he said to him, There were two men in the same city. The one was rich, and the other poor.
2The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance,
3but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which he bought, and nourished, and fed: and it had grown up with him and his children in the same house. It ate of his bread, and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter.
4And there came a traveller to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flocks, or of his own herds, to entertain the stranger—the wayfaring man who had come to him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man who came to him.
5And David was inflamed with indignation against the man to a great degree, and said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man who hath done this is guilty of death,
6and shall make sevenfold restitution for the lamb, because he hath done such a deed and had no compassion.
7Whereupon Nathan said to David, Thou art the man who hath done this. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I anointed thee to be king over Israel, and it was I Who delivered thee out of the hand of Saul,
8and gave thee the house of thy master, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom. I gave thee also the house of Israel and Juda, and if this had not been enough, I would have added still more.
9Why then hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast slain Ourias, the Chettite, with the sword, and taken his wife to be thy wife. Thou hast indeed slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house. Because thou hast despised Me, and taken the wife of Ourias, the Chettite, to be thy wife,
11therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold I will raise up evils against thee out of thy own house; and I will take thy wives before thy eyes, and give them to thy neighbour, and he will lie with thy wives in the face of the sun.
12Thou indeed didst act secretly; but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the face of yonder sun.
13Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die.
14But because thou hast by this deed given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, therefore thy son who is born to thee shall surely die.
15Then Nathan went to his house, and the Lord struck the child which the wife of Ourias, the Chettite, bore to David. And while it was sick
16David besought God for the child, and fasted and went in and lay on the ground.
17And when the elders of his house came to raise him from the ground, he would not consent, nor would he 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 living we spoke to him, but he would not hearken to our voice, how then must it affect him when we tell him, The child is dead!
19But when David perceived that his servants were whispering, he conjectured that the child was dead, therefore David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And when they said, He is dead,
20David arose, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothes, and went into the house of God, and worshipped Him. Then he went to his own house, and called for bread to eat. And when they had set bread before him, and he had eaten,
21his servants said to him, What is this that thou hast done for the child? While it was still living, thou didst fast, and weep, and kept thyself awake; but soon as the child is dead, thou hast risen up, and eaten, and drank.
22And David said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, because I said, Who knoweth but the Lord may have compassion on me, and the child may live?
23But now it is dead, why then should I fast? Can I bring it back again? I shall go to it; but it will never return to me.
24Then David comforted his wife Bersabe, and went in unto her; and she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him,
25and sent by the ministry of Nathan, the prophet, and called his name Jeddedi, that is, For the sake of the Lord.
26Now Joab had fought at Rabbath of the Ammonites, and taken the royal city.
27Wherefore Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have had a battle at Rabbath, and have taken the city of waters;
28now therefore assemble the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and take it, lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.
29So David assembled all the people, and went to Rabbath, and fought against it and took it.
30And he took the crown of Molchom, their king, from his head. Now the weight of it was a talent of gold, with precious stones, and it was set on David’s head.
31And he brought out the spoils of the city in great abundance, and he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to the saw, and to iron crows, and to pick axes of iron, and distributed them through brick yards. And when he had done the same to all the cities of the Ammonites, David, and all the people, returned to Jerusalem.