2 Samuel 12

¹ And LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city: the 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 up. And it grew up together with him, and with his sons. It ate of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was t

⁴ And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man who came to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who came to him.

⁵ And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As LORD lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die.

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

⁷ And Nathan said to David, Thou are the man. Thus says LORD, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.

⁸ And 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 to thee such and such things.

⁹ Why have thou despised the word of LORD, to do that which is evil in his sight? Thou have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be thy wife, and have slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

¹¹ Thus says 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 to thy neighbor, and he shall lay with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

¹² For thou did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

¹³ And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against LORD. And Nathan said to David, LORD also has put away thy sin; thou shall not die.

¹⁴ However, because by this deed thou have given great occasion to the enemies of LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to thee shall surely die.

¹⁵ And Nathan departed to his house. And LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it was very sick.

¹⁶ David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the ground.

¹⁷ And the elders of his house arose, [and stood] beside him, to raise him up from the ground, but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

¹⁸ And 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 spoke to him, and he did not hearken to our

¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead. And 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 he came into the house of LORD, and worshipped. Then he came to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before him, and he

²¹ Then his servants said to him, What thing is this that thou have done? Thou fasted and wept for the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou arose and ate bread.

²² And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who knows whether LORD will not 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 to him, but he will not return to me.

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

²⁵ and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet. And he called his name Jedidiah, for LORD's sake.

²⁶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the royal city.

²⁷ And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah; yea, I have taken the city of waters.

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 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.

³⁰ And he took the crown of their king from off his head. And the weight of it 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, exceedingly much.

³¹ And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And Dav