¹⁶ But to the wicked person, God says:

¹⁵ After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck^(A) the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying^(B) in sackcloth^[a] on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused,^(C) and he would not eat any food with them.^(D)

¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”

¹⁹ David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.

“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”

²⁰ Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed,^(E) put on lotions and changed his clothes,^(F) he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.

²¹ His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept,^(G) but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”

²² He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows?^(H) The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’^{(I) 23} But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him,^(J) but he will not return to me.”^(K)

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba,^(L) and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.^(M) The Lord loved him; ²⁵ and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.^[b](N)

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^{(B) 18} They are darkened in their understanding^(C) and separated from the life of God^(D) because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.^{(E) 19} Having lost all sensitivity,^(F) they have given themselves over^(G) to sensuality^(H) so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off^(I) your old self,^(J) which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;^{(K) 23} to be made new in the attitude of your minds;^{(L) 24} and to put on^(M) the new self,^(N) created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.^(O)