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.”

Israel to Be Renewed for His Name’s Sake

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It is ^(A)not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ And I will ^(B)vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the ^(C)nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will ^(D)take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands; and I will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(E)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(F)filthiness and from all your ^(G)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(H)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(I)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will ^(J)put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and ^[a]follow My ordinances. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(K)My people, and I will be your God.

³⁴ The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ And they will say, ‘This desolated land has become like the ^(A)Garden of Eden; and the waste, desolated and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations around you that are left will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I ^(B)will do it.”

Peter Reports in Jerusalem

11 Now the apostles and ^(A)the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^[a](B)the Jewish believers took issue with him, ³ saying, “^(C)You ^[b]went to ^[c]uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began and explained at length to them ^(D)in an orderly sequence, saying, ⁵ “^(E)I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^(F)a vision, an ^[d]object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came to where I was, ⁶ and I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the ^[e]crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ^[f]kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ^[g]unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^(G)What God has cleansed, no longer ^[h]consider unholy.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. ¹¹ And behold, at that moment three men who had been sent to me from ^(H)Caesarea came up to the house where we were staying. ^12 (I)And the Spirit told me to go with them ^(J)without ^[i]misgivings. ^(K)These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ^[j]standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send some men to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; ¹⁴ and he will speak ^(L)words to you by which you will be saved, you and ^(M)all your household.’ ¹⁵ And as I began to speak, ^(N)the Holy Spirit fell upon them just ^(O)as He did upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^(P)John baptized with water, but you will be baptized ^[k]with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, if ^(Q)God gave them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^(R)who was I that I could ^[l]stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard this, they ^[m]quieted down and ^(S)glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the ^(T)repentance that leads to life.”

Prayer Promises

²³ And ^(A)on that day ^(B)you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, ^(C)if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. ^24 (D)Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your ^(E)joy may be made full.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you in ^(F)figures of speech; ^(G)an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. ^26 (H)On that day ^(I)you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; ²⁷ for ^(J)the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and ^(K)have believed that ^(L)I came forth from the Father. ^28 (M)I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and ^(N)going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples *said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and are not ^[a]using any ^(O)figure of speech. ³⁰ Now we know that You know all things, and that You have no need for anyone to question You; this is why we ^(P)believe that You ^(Q)came forth from God.” ³¹ Jesus replied to them, “Do you now believe? ³² Behold, ^(R)an hour is coming, and has already come, for ^(S)you to be scattered, each to ^(T)his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet ^(U)I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ These things I have spoken to you so that ^(V)in Me you may have peace. ^(W)In the world you have tribulation, but ^(X)take courage; ^(Y)I have overcome the world.”