2 Samuel 12

Nathan Rebukes Davidⓘ

Nathan tells David a story about a lamb¹Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms^a and was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor manʼs lamb and prepared it for his guest.”

⁵David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

Nathan declares judgment; David confesses⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave your masterʼs house to you and your masterʼs wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

⁹✦Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰✦Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹✦This is what the Lord says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. ¹²✦You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

Davidʼs Loss and Repentanceⓘ

¹³✦Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

“The Lord has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die. ¹⁴Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord,^b the son born to you will surely die.”

¹⁵After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriahʼs wife had borne to David, and he became ill. The child's illness and death¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth^c on the ground. ¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. But Davidʼs servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.”

¹⁹When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”

“He is dead,” they replied.

²⁰Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

²¹“What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”

²²David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’ ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Solomonʼs Birthⓘ

Solomon is born²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they^d named him Solomon.

Now the Lord loved the child ²⁵and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah because the Lord loved him.^e

The Capture of Rabbahⓘ

David takes Rabbah²⁶Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress. ²⁷Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.^{f 28}Now, therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

²⁹So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; and he fought against it and captured it. ³⁰Then he took the crown from the head of their king.^g It weighed a talent of gold^h and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on Davidʼs head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

³¹David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws,ⁱ iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns.^j He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.