2 Samuel 12

1Then Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.

2The rich man had a great many sheep and cattle,

3but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup and sleep in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

4Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man did not want to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

5David burned with great anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

6He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did this and because he had no pity.”

7Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

8I gave you your master’s house and put your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I would have given you much more.

9Why did you despise the word of Yahweh by doing what is evil in my eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your wife. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

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

11This is what Yahweh says: Look, I am going to bring disaster on you from within your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to someone close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.

12You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in front of all Israel and in broad daylight.”

13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh has taken away your sin. You will not die.

14But because by doing this you have given the enemies of Yahweh cause to treat him with utter contempt, the son born to you will surely die.”

15Then Nathan went home. Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became very ill.

16David pleaded with God for the boy. David fasted, and he went in and spent the nights lying on the ground in sackcloth.

17The elders of his household stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

18On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something terrible.”

19But David saw that his servants were whispering among themselves, and he understood that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” 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 worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

21His servants said to him, “What is this you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!”

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

23But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not come back to me.”

24Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and slept with her. She gave birth to a son, and she named him Solomon. Yahweh loved him,

25and he sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, because of Yahweh.

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

27Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the city of waters.

28Now gather the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city myself, and it will be named after me.”

29So David gathered all the troops and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and captured it.

30He took the crown of their king from his head. It weighed a talent of gold and held a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. He also brought out a great amount of plunder from the city.

31He brought out the people who were in it and set them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the towns of the Ammonites. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.