2 Samuel 12:16-31

New American Standard Bible

¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David ^(A)fasted and went and ^(B)lay all night on the ground. ^17 (C)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 ^[a]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, ^(D)washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and ^(E)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 ^[b]alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” ²² And he said, “While the child was still alive, ^(F)I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘^(G)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? ^(H)I am going to him, but ^(I)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 ^[c](J)he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, ²⁵ and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him ^[d]Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.

War Again

^26 (K)Now Joab fought against ^(L)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 ^(M)he took the crown of ^[e]their king from his head; and its weight was a ^[f]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 ^(N)put some to work at saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and made ^[g]others ^[h]serve at the brick ^[i]works. And he did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.