2 Samuel 12

Revised Geneva Translation

12 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, who came to him and said to him, “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

² “The rich man had exceedingly many sheep and oxen.

³ “But the poor had none at all, except one little sheep which he had bought and nourished. And it grew up with him and with his children also, and ate of his own morsels and drank of his own cup and slept in his bosom and was to him as his daughter.

⁴ “Now a stranger came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own sheep and from his own oxen to prepare for the stranger who had come to him. But he took the poor man’s sheep and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵ Then David was exceedingly angry with the man, and said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this thing shall surely die!

⁶ “And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no pity!”

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

⁸ ‘and gave you your lord’s house, and your lord’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and would moreover (if that had been too little) have given you such and such things.

⁹ ‘Why have you despised the Commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

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

¹¹ “Thus said the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of his sin.

¹² ‘For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the Sun.’”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD has also put away your sin. You shall not die.

¹⁴ “However, because, by this deed, you have caused the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child who is born to you shall surely die.”

¹⁵ So Nathan departed to his house. And the LORD struck the child whom Uriah’s wife bore to David. And it was sick.

¹⁶ David, therefore, sought God for the child and fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth.

¹⁷ Then the elders of his house arose to come to him, and to cause him to rise from the ground. But he would not. Nor did he eat food with them.

¹⁸ So, on the seventh day, the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Behold, while the child was alive, we spoke to him. And he would not listen to our voice. How, then, shall we say to him, ‘The child is dead,’ and upset him more?”

¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore, David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”

²⁰ Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the House of the LORD and worshipped. And afterward, he came to his own house and requested that they set bread before him. And he ate.

²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What thing is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive. But when the child was dead, you rose up and ate food.”

²² And he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, ‘Who can tell whether God will have mercy on me, so that the child may live?’

²³ “But now, being dead, why should I now fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

²⁴ And David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went into her, and lay with her. And she bore a son. And he called his name, Solomon. Also, the LORD loved him.

²⁵ For He had sent Word by Nathan the Prophet. Therefore, he called his name, Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

²⁶ Then Joab fought against Rabbah, of the children of Ammon, and took the city of the kingdom.

²⁷ Therefore, Joab sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.

²⁸ “Now, therefore, gather the rest of the people together and besiege the city, so that you may take it, lest the victory be attributed to me.”

²⁹ So, David gathered all the people together and went against Rabbah and besieged it and took it.

³⁰ And he took their king’s crown from his head (which weighed a talent of gold, with precious stones). And it was set on David’s head. And he brought away the spoil of the city in exceedingly great abundance.

³¹ And he carried away the people who were there, and put them under saws, and under iron hoes, and under axes of iron, and cast them into the brick kiln. He did thus with all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.