Nathan Rebukes David

12 Then the Lord sent ^(A)Nathan to David. And ^(B)he came to him and ^[a]said,

⁵ Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this certainly ^[d](D)deserves to die! ⁶ So he must make restitution for the lamb ^(E)four times over, since he did this thing and ^[e]had no compassion.”

⁷ Nathan then said to David, “^(F)You yourself are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘^(G)It is I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it is I who rescued you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I also gave you ^(H)your master’s house and put your master’s wives ^[f]into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you ^[g]many more things like these! ⁹ Why ^(I)have you despised the word of the Lord, by doing evil in His sight? ^(J)You have struck and killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you ^(K)have taken his wife as your wife, and you have slaughtered him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now then, ^(L)the sword shall never leave 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: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; ^(M)I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in ^[h]broad daylight. ¹² Indeed, ^(N)you did it secretly, but ^(O)I will do this thing before all Israel, and ^[i]in open daylight.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “^(P)I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has ^(Q)allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, since by this deed you have ^(R)shown utter disrespect for the ^[j]Lord, the child himself who is born to you shall certainly die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went to his house.

Loss of a Child

Later the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s ^[k]widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. ¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David ^(S)fasted and went and ^(T)lay all night on the ground. ^17 (U)The elders of his household stood beside him in order to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to ^[l]us. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm?” ¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” ²⁰ So David got up from the ground, ^(V)washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and ^(W)worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and when he asked, they served him food, and he ate.

²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was ^[m]alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” ²² And he said, “While the child was still alive, ^(X)I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘^(Y)Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ ²³ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? ^(Z)I am going to him, but ^(AA)he will not return to me.”

Solomon Born

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and slept with her; and she gave birth to a son, and ^[n](AB)he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, ²⁵ and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him ^[o]Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.

War Again

^26 (AC)Now Joab fought against ^(AD)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and captured the royal city. ²⁷ Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters. ²⁸ Now then, gather the rest of the people and camp opposite the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. ³⁰ Then ^(AE)he took the crown of ^[p]their king from his head; and its weight was a ^[q]talent of gold, and it had a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the plunder of the city in great amounts. ³¹ He also brought out the people who were in it, and ^(AF)put some to work at saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and made ^[r]others ^[s]serve at the brick ^[t]works. And he did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if our ^[a](A)earthly ^(B)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(C)not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For indeed, in this tent we ^(D)groan, longing to be ^(E)clothed with our ^[b]dwelling from heaven, ³ since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed, we who are in this tent ^(F)groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be ^(G)clothed, so that what is ^(H)mortal will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who ^(I)gave us the Spirit as a ^[c]pledge.

⁶ Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that ^(J)while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— ⁷ for ^(K)we walk by faith, not by ^[d]sight— ⁸ but we are of good courage and ^(L)prefer rather to be absent from the body and ^(M)to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be ^(N)pleasing to Him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before ^(O)the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for ^[e]his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the ^(P)fear of the Lord, we persuade people, but we are well known to God; and I hope that we are also ^(Q)well known in your consciences. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you ^(R)again, but are giving you an ^(S)opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. ¹³ For if we have ^(T)lost our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ ^(U)controls us, having concluded this, that ^(V)one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer ^(W)live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one ^[f](X)by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(Y)in Christ, this person is ^(Z)a new ^[g]creation; ^(AA)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now ^(AB)all these things are from God, ^(AC)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ^(AD)ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that ^(AE)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ^(AF)not counting their wrongdoings against them, and ^[h]He has ^[i]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ^(AG)ambassadors for Christ, ^(AH)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be ^(AI)reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who ^(AJ)knew no sin to be ^[j](AK)sin in our behalf, so that we might become the ^(AL)righteousness of God in Him.

Song of Mourning for the Leaders of Israel

19 “As for you, take up a ^(A)song of mourning for the ^(B)leaders of Israel ² and say,

This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.

Prayer for Rescue from Secret Enemies.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.

God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Mankind.

For the music director. A Psalm of David. A Song.