Nathan Rebukes David^(A)

12 The Lord sent Nathan^(B) to David.^(C) When he came to him,^(D) he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

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

⁵ David^(E) burned with anger^(F) against the man^(G) and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives,^(H) the man who did this must die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over,^(I) because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!^(J) This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed^(K) you^(L) king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you,^(M) and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise^(N) the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down^(O) Uriah^(P) the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed^(Q) him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword^(R) will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

Judging Others^(A)

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.^{(B) 2} For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.^(C)

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.