David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,^(A) at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab^(B) out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.^(C) They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.^(D) But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof^(E) of the palace. From the roof he saw^(F) a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, ³ and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba,^(G) the daughter of Eliam^(H) and the wife of Uriah^(I) the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her.^(J) She came to him, and he slept^(K) with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.)^(L) Then she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ After the time of mourning^(A) was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased^(B) the Lord.

Nathan Rebukes David^(A)

12 The Lord sent Nathan^(B) to David.^(C) When he came to him,^(D) he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

⁵ David^(E) burned with anger^(F) against the man^(G) and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives,^(H) the man who did this must die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over,^(I) because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!^(J) This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed^(K) you^(L) king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you,^(M) and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise^(N) the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down^(O) Uriah^(P) the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed^(Q) him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Psalm 51^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.^(A)