Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.

But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

So the poor have hope, And injustice shuts her mouth.

His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide.

“Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.

They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief.

Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper.

I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know.

Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

“If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Yet He is not partial to princes, Nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; For they are all the work of His hands.

So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him; For He hears the cry of the afflicted.

He delivers the poor in their affliction, And opens their ears in oppression.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; He lies in wait to catch the poor; He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.

“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge.