2 Samuel 11:14-13:22

New King James Version

¹⁴ In the morning it happened that David ^(A)wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the ^[a]hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may ^(B)be struck down and die.” ¹⁶ So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, ¹⁹ and charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, ²⁰ if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who struck ^(C)Abimelech the son of ^[b]Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”

²² So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. ²³ And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”

²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing ^[c]displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.”

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she ^(D)became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done ^(E)displeased^[d] the Lord.

Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession

12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And ^(F)he came to him, and ^(G)said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. ³ But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵ So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this ^[e]shall surely die! ⁶ And he shall restore ^(H)fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I ^(I)anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ^9 (J)Why have you ^(K)despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? ^(L)You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now therefore, ^(M)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.’ ¹¹ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will ^(N)take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹² For you did it secretly, ^(O)but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”

^13 (P)So David said to Nathan, ^(Q)“I have sinned against the Lord.”

And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has ^(R)put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord ^(S)to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan departed to his house.

The Death of David’s Son

And the ^(T)Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. ¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and ^(U)lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”

¹⁹ When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”

And they said, “He is dead.”

²⁰ So David arose from the ground, washed and ^(V)anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and ^(W)worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. ²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

²² And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; ^(X)for I said, ‘Who can tell whether ^[f]the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ ²³ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go ^(Y)to him, but ^(Z)he shall not return to me.”

Solomon Is Born

²⁴ Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So ^(AA)she bore a son, and ^(AB)he^[g] called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, ²⁵ and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So ^[h]he called his name ^[i]Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

Rabbah Is Captured^(AC)

²⁶ Now ^(AD)Joab fought against ^(AE)Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁷ And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city’s water supply. ²⁸ Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it. ^30 (AF)Then he took their king’s crown from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the ^[j]spoil of the city in great abundance. ³¹ And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them cross over to the brick works. So he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Amnon and Tamar

13 After this ^(AG)Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was ^(AH)Tamar; and ^(AI)Amnon the son of David loved her. ² Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her. ³ But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab ^(AJ)the son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Now Jonadab was a very crafty man. ⁴ And he said to him, “Why are you, the king’s son, becoming thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?”

Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

⁵ So Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ” ⁶ Then Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let Tamar my sister come and ^(AK)make a couple of cakes for me in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷ And David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Now go to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.” ⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. Then she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. ⁹ And she took the pan and placed them out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, ^(AL)“Have everyone go out from me.” And they all went out from him. ¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, that I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to Amnon her brother in the bedroom. ¹¹ Now when she had brought them to him to eat, ^(AM)he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”

¹² But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not ^[k]force me, for ^(AN)no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this ^(AO)disgraceful thing! ¹³ And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; ^(AP)for he will not withhold me from you.” ¹⁴ However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he ^(AQ)forced her and lay with her.

¹⁵ Then Amnon hated her ^[l]exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!”

¹⁶ So she said to him, “No, indeed! This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.”

But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷ Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.” ¹⁸ Now she had on ^(AR)a robe of many colors, for the king’s virgin daughters wore such apparel. And his servant put her out and bolted the door behind her.

¹⁹ Then Tamar put ^(AS)ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and ^(AT)laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly. ²⁰ And Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.

²¹ But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. ²² And Absalom spoke to his brother Amnon ^(AU)neither good nor bad. For Absalom ^(AV)hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.