2 Samuel 12
Contemporary English Version
12 1 (A) and he sent Nathan the prophet to tell this story to David:
A rich man and a poor man lived in the same town. 2 The rich man owned a lot of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had only one little lamb that he had bought and raised. The lamb became a pet for him and his children. He even let it eat from his plate and drink from his cup and sleep on his lap. The lamb was like one of his own children.
4 One day someone came to visit the rich man, but the rich man didn't want to kill any of his own sheep or cattle and serve it to the visitor. So he stole the poor man's lamb and served it instead.
5 David was furious with the rich man and said to Nathan, “I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this deserves to die! 6 And because he didn't have pity on the poor man, he will have to pay four times what the lamb was worth.”
7 Then Nathan told David:
You are that rich man! Now listen to what the Lord God of Israel says to you: “I chose you to be the king of Israel. I kept you safe from Saul 8 and even gave you his house and his wives. I let you rule Israel and Judah, and if that had not been enough, I would have given you much more. 9 Why did you disobey me and do such a horrible thing? You murdered Uriah the Hittite by letting the Ammonites kill him, so you could take his wife.
10 “Because you wouldn't obey me and took Uriah's wife for yourself, your family will never live in peace. 11 (B) Someone from your own family will cause you a lot of trouble, and I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes. He will go to bed with them while everyone looks on. 12 What you did was in secret, but I will do this in the open for everyone in Israel to see.”
13-14 David said, “I have disobeyed the Lord.”
“Yes, you have!” Nathan answered. “You showed you didn't care what the Lord wanted.[a] He has forgiven you, and you won't die. But your newborn son will.” 15 Then Nathan went back home.
David's Young Son Dies
The Lord made David's young son very sick.
16 So David went without eating to show his sorrow, and he begged God to make the boy well. David would not sleep on his bed, but spent each night lying on the floor. 17 His officials stood beside him and tried to talk him into getting up. But he would not get up or eat with them.
18 After the child had been sick for seven days, he died, but the officials were afraid to tell David. They said to each other, “Even when the boy was alive, David wouldn't listen to us. How can we tell him his son is dead? He might do something terrible!”
19 David noticed his servants whispering, and he knew the boy was dead. “Did my son die?” he asked his servants.
“Yes, he did,” they answered.
20 David got up off the floor; he took a bath, combed his hair, and dressed. He went into the Lord's tent and worshiped, then he went back home. David asked for something to eat, and when his servants brought him some food, he ate it.
21 His officials said, “What are you doing? You went without eating and cried for your son while he was alive! But now that he's dead, you're up and eating.”
22 David answered:
While he was still alive, I went without food and cried because there was still hope. I said to myself, “Who knows? Maybe the Lord will have pity on me and let the child live.” 23 But now that he's dead, why should I go without eating? I can't bring him back! Someday I will join him in death, but he can't return to me.
Solomon Is Born
24 David comforted his wife Bathsheba and slept with her. Later on, she gave birth to another son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon 25 and sent Nathan the prophet to tell David, “The Lord will call him Jedidiah.”[b]
The End of the War with Ammon
(1 Chronicles 20.1b-3)
26 Meanwhile, Joab had been in the country of Ammon, attacking the city of Rabbah. He captured the royal fortress 27 and sent a messenger to tell David:
I have attacked Rabbah and captured the fortress guarding the city water supply. 28 Call the rest of the army together. Then surround the city, and capture it yourself. If you don't, everyone will remember that I captured the city.
29 David called the rest of the army together and attacked Rabbah. He captured the city 30 and took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom.[c] The crown was made of about 35 kilograms of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his own crown.[d] He also carried off everything else of value. 31 David made the people of Rabbah tear down the city walls[e] with iron picks and axes, and then he put them to work making bricks. He did the same thing with all the other Ammonite cities.
David went back to Jerusalem, and the people of Israel returned to their homes.
Footnotes
- 12.13,14 what … wanted: One manuscript of one ancient translation; one Hebrew manuscript “what the Lord had said”; most Hebrew manuscripts “what the enemies of the Lord would think.”
- 12.25 Jedidiah: In Hebrew this name means “Loved by the Lord.”
- 12.30 the statue of their god Milcom: Or “their king.”
- 12.30 David … crown: Or “and David wore the crown.”
- 12.31 tear … walls: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2 Samuel 12
English Standard Version
Nathan Rebukes David
12 And the Lord sent (A)Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, (B)“There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms,[a] and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, (C)“As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb (D)fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, (E)‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 (F)Why have you despised the word of the Lord, (G)to do what is evil in his sight? (H)You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and (I)have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, (J)but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 (K)David said to Nathan, (L)“I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, (M)“The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly (N)scorned the Lord,[b] the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
David's Child Dies
And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David (O)fasted and went in (P)and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth (Q)and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord (R)and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, 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 alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, (S)‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, (T)but he will not return to me.”
Solomon's Birth
24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and (U)she bore a son, and he called his name (V)Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah,[c] because of the Lord.
Rabbah Is Captured
26 (W)Now Joab (X)fought against (Y)Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.” 29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. 30 And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent[d] of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. 31 And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at[e] the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 12:3 Hebrew bosom; also verse 8
- 2 Samuel 12:14 Masoretic Text the enemies of the Lord; Dead Sea Scroll the word of the Lord
- 2 Samuel 12:25 Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord
- 2 Samuel 12:30 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
- 2 Samuel 12:31 Hebrew pass through
2 Samuel 12
EasyEnglish Bible
Nathan warns David
12 The Lord sent Nathan to go and speak to David.[a] Nathan told this story to David, ‘There were two men who lived in the same town. One man was rich and the other man was poor. 2 The rich man had very many sheep, goats and cows. 3 But the poor man had only one little female lamb. He had bought it and he had taken care of it. It had grown up with his own children. It ate his bits of food and it drank water from his cup. It even slept while he held it. It was like a daughter for him.
4 One day, the rich man had a visitor to his home. The rich man needed to make a meal for his visitor. But he did not want to kill one of his own animals. Instead, he took the poor man's lamb away from him. He cooked the lamb to feed his visitor.’
5 When David heard what the rich man had done, he became very angry. He said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, that man deserves to die. 6 He did that cruel thing and he was not sorry for the poor man. So he must pay the poor man enough money to buy four lambs.’
7 Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says: “I chose you as king to rule over Israel. I saved you from Saul's power. 8 I gave your master's palace to you, and his wives as well. I gave the kingdoms of Israel and Judah to you. And if that was not enough for you, I would have given you even more than that. 9 But now you have not respected the Lord's command. You have done an evil thing. You caused Uriah the Hittite to die in a battle. You used the Ammonite soldiers to kill Uriah. 10 So now your family will always have people who die in battle. When you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife, you showed that you did not respect me.”
11 This is what the Lord says, “I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble to you. You yourself will see it happen! I will take your wives from you and I will give them to someone else. He will have sex with them in the daytime, for everyone to see. 12 What you did, you did secretly. But I will cause this to happen in the light of day, so that all Israel can see it.” ’
13 Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’
Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has forgiven your sin. He will not punish you with death. 14 But you did not respect the Lord when you did this bad thing. Because of that, your baby son will certainly die.’ 15 Then Nathan went home.
David's son dies
After that, the Lord caused the child of Uriah's wife to become very ill. 16 David asked the Lord to make his child well again. He lay on the floor of his house all night and he ate no food. 17 His palace officers stood around him. They tried to help him to get up from the ground. But he refused and he would not eat anything with them.
18 On the seventh day, the child died. David's officers were afraid to tell him. They thought, ‘Even when the child was alive, David refused to listen to us. So what will happen if we tell him that the child is dead? He might try to hurt himself.’
19 But David saw that his officers were speaking secretly to each other. So he realized that the child had died. He asked them, ‘Is the child dead?’
They replied, ‘Yes, he is dead.’
20 Then David got up from the ground and he washed himself. He put special oil on his body and he dressed himself in clean clothes. Then he went into the Lord's house to worship him. After that, he went back to his palace. He asked his servants to bring some food and he ate it.
21 His officers said to him, ‘We do not understand what you are doing. While the child was still alive, you refused to eat food and you wept. But now that the child is dead you are no longer weeping. You are moving around and you are eating. Why?’
22 David replied, ‘While the child was still alive, I wept and I did not eat anything. I thought that perhaps the Lord would be kind to me. I thought that he might let the child live. 23 But now the child is dead. Even if I fast and I pray, I cannot bring him back to me. One day, I will go to the place where he is. But he will never come back here to me.’
24 Then David went to comfort his wife, Bathsheba. He had sex with her as his wife. Later, she gave birth to a son. David gave him the name ‘Solomon’. The Lord loved the child, 25 so he sent a message to David with Nathan, the prophet. He told David to call his son Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.[b]
David wins Rabbah
26 At this time, Joab was attacking Rabbah, the Ammonite city. He had taken from the enemy the king's strong place in the city. 27 Joab sent men to take this message to David: ‘I have attacked Rabbah. Now I have taken the place that holds the city's water. 28 So you should bring the other soldiers of our army to make their camp here. Then you can attack the city and you can take it for us. If you do not do that, I will take the city myself. Then the city will have my name instead of yours.’
29 So David brought all the soldiers of the army together. He led them to Rabbah. They attacked the city and they won against it. 30 He took the crown off the Ammonite king's head. The crown was made of gold. It weighed 34 kilograms. There was a valuable jewel fixed on it. David's men then put the crown on David's head. David also took a lot of valuable things from the city. 31 He brought the people out from the city to do hard work for him. He made them cut wood with saws, and use iron tools and axes. He also made them work at the brick ovens. He did the same thing to the people of all the other Ammonite cities.
Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.
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