¹⁷ His most trusted servants stood beside him. They wanted him to get up from the ground. But he refused to do it. And he wouldn’t eat any food with them.

¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him the child was dead. They thought, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to David. But he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we now tell him the child is dead? He might do something terrible to himself.”

¹⁹ David saw that his attendants were whispering to one another. Then he realized the child was dead. “Has the child died?” he asked.

“Yes,” they replied. “He’s dead.”