2 Samuel
Chapter 12
1 God sent Nathan to David. He went to him and said, “There were two men in the same city; one was rich and the other was poor.”
2 The rich man had very many sheep and cattle.
3 The poor man had only one small female lamb he had bought and cared for. It grew up with him and his children, eating from his food, drinking from his cup, and sleeping close to him, like a daughter to him.
4 A traveler came to the rich man, but he didn’t want to use any of his own sheep or cattle to cook for the guest. Instead, he took the poor man’s only lamb and prepared it for his visitor.
5 David became very angry at the man and said to Nathan, “As God lives, this man who did this must die.”
6 He must return four sheep for the one he took because he did this and had no mercy.
7 Nathan told David, “You are the man. God says, I made you king over Israel, and I saved you from Saul’s power.”
8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives, and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; if that wasn’t enough, I would have given you even more.
9 Why have you ignored God’s command by doing wrong in his eyes? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, took his wife as your own, and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10 So now, the sword will always be in your family because you looked down on me and took Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your own.
11 God says, “Look, I will bring trouble on you from your own family. I will take your wives while you watch and give them to your neighbor. He will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.”
12 You did it in secret, but I will do this for all Israel to see, under the sun.
13 David told Nathan, “I have sinned against God.” Nathan replied to David, “God has forgiven your sin; you will not die.”
14 However, because this action of yours has given God’s enemies a big reason to insult, the baby born to you will certainly die.
15 Nathan went to his home. God made the child that Uriah’s wife had with David very ill.
16 David prayed to God for the child; David fasted, went inside, and spent the whole night lying on the ground.
17 The older leaders of his house stood up and went to him to help him get up from the ground, but he refused, and he did not eat bread with them.
18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him the child was dead. They thought, “When the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to us. How upset will he be if we tell him the child is dead?”
19 When David noticed his servants whispering, he realized the child had died. So David asked them, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he is dead.”
20 David got up from the ground, washed, put on lotion, changed his clothes, went to God’s house, and prayed. Then he went home, and when he asked for food, they gave him some, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? You fasted and cried for the child when it was alive; but after the child died, you got up and ate.”
22 He said, “When the child was still alive, I fasted and cried because I thought, ‘Maybe God will be kind to me so the child will live.’”
23 He is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I make him live again? I will go to him, but he will not come back to me.
24 David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and slept with her. She had a son, and David named him Solomon. God loved him.
25 He sent the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah because of God.
26 Joab battled Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the main city.
27 Joab sent people to tell David, “I have battled Rabbah and captured the water city.”
28 Now get the rest of the people, camp around the city, and capture it, so I don’t take the city and have it named after me.
29 David brought all the people, went to Rabbah, fought against it, and captured it.
30 He took the crown from their king’s head. It weighed a talent of gold and had precious stones. It was placed on David’s head. He took a lot of valuable things from the city.
31 He took the people out of the city, made them work with saws, iron tools, and axes, and had them make bricks. David did this to all the Ammonite cities, then he and his people went back to Jerusalem.