2 Samuel 12
12
1And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this is worthy to die: 6and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things. 9Wherefore hast thou despised the word of the LORD, to do that which is evil in his sight? thou hast smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
15And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 16David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. 17And the elders of his house arose, and stood beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 18And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he hearkened not unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? 19But when David saw that his servants whispered together, David perceived that the child was dead: and David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. 20Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who knoweth whether the LORD will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 24And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him; 25and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, for the LORD'S sake.
26Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, yea, I have taken the city of waters. 28Now 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. 29And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30And he took the crown of their king from off his head; and the weight thereof was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much. 31And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
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2 Samuel 12: RV1885
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2 Samuel 12
12
Nathan Speaks to David
1The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, “There were two men in a city. One man was rich, but the other man was poor. 2The rich man had lots of sheep and cattle. 3But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb that he bought. The poor man fed the lamb, and the lamb grew up with this poor man and his children. She ate from the poor man’s food and drank from his cup. The lamb slept on the poor man’s chest. The lamb was like a daughter to the poor man.
4“Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to give food to the traveler, but he did not want to take any of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler. No, the rich man took the lamb from the poor man and cooked it for his visitor.”
5David became very angry with the rich man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this should die! 6He must pay four times the price of the lamb because he did this terrible thing and because he had no mercy.”
Nathan Tells David About His Sin
7Then Nathan said to David, “You are that rich man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I chose#12:7 chose Literally, “anointed.” See “anoint” in the Word List. you to be the king of Israel. I saved you from Saul. 8I let you take his family and his wives, and I made you king of Israel and Judah. As if that had not been enough, I would have given you more and more. 9So why did you ignore my command? Why did you do what I say is wrong? You let the Ammonites kill Uriah the Hittite, and you took his wife. It is as if you yourself killed Uriah in war. 10So your family will never have peace! When you took Uriah’s wife, you showed that you did not respect me.’
11“This is what the Lord says: ‘I am bringing trouble against you. This trouble will come from your own family. I will take your wives from you and give them to someone who is very close to you. He will have sexual relations with your wives, and everyone will know it!#12:11 and everyone will know it Literally, “in the sight of the sun.” 12You had sexual relations with Bathsheba in secret, but I will punish you so that all the people of Israel can see it.’”#12:12 so that all … can see it Literally, “before all Israel and before the sun.”
13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “The Lord will forgive you, even for this sin. You will not die. 14But you did things that made the Lord’s enemies lose their respect for him, so your new baby son will die.”
David and Bathsheba’s Baby Dies
15Then Nathan went home. And the Lord caused the baby boy who was born to David and Uriah’s wife to become very sick. 16David prayed to God for the baby. David refused to eat or drink. He went into his house and stayed there and lay on the ground all night.
17The leaders of David’s family came and tried to pull David up from the ground, but he refused to get up. He refused to eat with these leaders. 18On the seventh day the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell David that the baby is dead, he might do something bad to himself.”
19David saw his servants whispering and understood that the baby was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?”
The servants answered, “Yes, he is dead.”
20Then David got up from the floor. He washed himself. He changed his clothes and got dressed. Then he went into the Lord’s house to worship. After that he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.
21David’s servants asked him, “Why are you doing this? When the baby was alive, you cried and refused to eat. But when the baby died you got up and ate food.”
22David said, “While the baby was still living, I cried and refused to eat because I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ 23But now the baby is dead, so why should I refuse to eat? Can I bring the baby back to life? No. Some day I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife. He slept with her and had sexual relations with her. Bathsheba became pregnant again and had another son. David named the boy Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon 25and sent word for Nathan the prophet to give Solomon the name Jedidiah.#12:25 Jedidiah This name means “loved by the Lord.” So Nathan did this for the Lord.
David Captures Rabbah
26Rabbah was the capital city of the Ammonites. Joab fought against Rabbah and captured it. 27Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured its water supply. 28Now bring the rest of the army together and attack Rabbah. Capture this city before I do, or else it will be called by my name.”
29So David gathered all the soldiers together and went to Rabbah. He fought against Rabbah and captured the city. 30David took the crown off their king’s head.#12:30 their king’s head Or “Milcom’s head.” Milcom was a false god that the Ammonites worshiped. The crown was gold and weighed about 75 pounds.#12:30 75 pounds Literally, “1 talent” (34.5 kg). This crown had precious stones in it. They put the crown on David’s head. David took many valuable things out of the city.
31David also brought out the people of the city of Rabbah and made them work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also forced them to build things with bricks. He did the same thing to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the army went back to Jerusalem.
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