Nathan Rebukes David
1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. 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 a great many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. 4 A traveler came to the rich man, and he refrained from taking from his own flock and from his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! 6 He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the 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. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and 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 wife.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will raise up disaster against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’ ”
David’s Loss and Repentance
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin. You will not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” 15 Nathan departed to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick.
16 David therefore begged the Lord for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the ground, but he would not, and he did not eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “While the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he didn’t listen to us. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?”
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?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David arose from the ground and washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him, and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the 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 will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Solomon’s Birth
24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife and went in to her and lay with her. She bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and he sent a message at the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for the Lord’s sake.
David Captures Rabbah
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, 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 by my name.”
29 David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it, and took it. 30 He took the crown of their king from off his head, and its weight was 75 pounds of gold, and in it were precious stones, and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of plunder out of the city. 31 He brought out the people who were in it and put them under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln, and he did so to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.