2 Samuel 12

Nathan confronts David

¹The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “In a certain city there were two men, one of them rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had a great many sheep and cattle. ³But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nurtured it, and it grew up with him alongside his children. It shared his bit of bread, drank from his cup and lay in his arms; it was like a daughter to him. ⁴Then a traveler came to the rich man. He did not want to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the visitor who had come to him. So he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for his guest.” ⁵David’s anger burned hot against the man. “As surely as the LORD lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶He must pay back four times over for the lamb, because he did this and because he had no pity.”^{a 7}Nathan said to David, “You are the man! The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul’s power. ⁸I gave you your master’s house and placed your master’s wives in your embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah too. And had that been too little, I would have given you much more besides. ⁹Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in my sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your wife. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.^{b 10}So now the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹The LORD says this: ‘I am about to raise up disaster against you from within your own household. Before your eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹²You acted in secret, but I will do this in front of all Israel, in broad daylight.’”

David admits his sin

¹³David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴But because by doing this you have given the enemies of the LORD every reason to scorn him, the son who has been born to you will surely die.”^{cd 15}After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child whom Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the boy fell gravely ill. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, and he went in and spent the nights lying on the ground. ¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. ¹⁸The child died on the seventh day, and David’s servants were afraid to give him the news. They said, “While the child was still living, we spoke to him and he paid no attention to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something harmful.” ¹⁹When David saw his servants whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Has the child died?” They answered, “He has died.” ²⁰Then David got up from the ground. He washed, put oil on himself and changed his clothes. He entered the house of the LORD and bowed in worship. After that he went to his own house and asked for food, and when they set it before him, he ate. ²¹His servants said to him, “What is this you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept for him, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” ²²He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ²³But now he has died. Why should I go on fasting? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him one day, but he will not come back to me.” ²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and slept with her, and she gave birth to a son, and she named him Solomon. The LORD loved him,^{e 25}and he sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah because of the LORD.

Rabbah is captured

²⁶Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city.^{f 27}Joab sent messengers to tell David, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city’s water supply.^{g 28}Now gather the rest of the troops, camp against the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city myself, and it will be named after me.” ²⁹So David gathered all the troops and went to Rabbah. He fought against it and captured it. ³⁰He took the crown from their king’s head. It weighed about 75 pounds of gold and held a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. He also brought a great amount of plunder out of the city.^{h 31}He brought out the people who were in the city and put them to work with saws, iron picks and iron axes, and he made them labor at the brick molds. He did the same to all the towns of the Ammonites. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.^ij