2 Samuel 12

International Standard Version

12 ¹ so the Lord sent Nathan to David.

Nathan’s Rebuke

Nathan^[a] approached David^[b] and said, “There are two men in the city. One is rich and one is poor. ² The rich man has many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing except for one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It used to share his food and drink from his own cup. It even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ A traveler arrived to visit the rich man. Because he was unwilling to take an animal from one of his own flocks or herds to prepare for the guest who had come to visit him, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to visit him.”

⁵ David flew into a rage at the man and told Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He will restore the lamb four times its value, because he did this thing, and because he did it without compassion.”

⁷ But Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

“‘I anointed you king—and you became king over Israel.

“‘I delivered you from Saul’s control.

⁸ “‘I gave you your former^[c] master’s household.

“‘I placed your former^[d] master’s wives right in your arms.

“‘I gave you^[e] Israel and Judah.

“‘And if this had been too little, I would have added much more than that to you!

⁹ “‘Why did you despise what the Lord has promised by doing what is detestable in his sight?

“‘You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a battle sword.

“‘You took his wife to be your own.^[f]

“‘You killed him with the sword of the Ammonite army.

¹⁰ “‘Therefore the sword will never leave your household, because you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’^[g]

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says:

“‘Listen very carefully!

“‘I’m raising up evil against you right out of your own household.

“‘I’m going to take your wives away from you right before your eyes.

“‘Then I’ll give them to your neighbor.

“‘And then he’s going to have sex with your wives in broad daylight!

¹² “‘What you did in secret I’m going to do right in front of all Israel and in broad daylight as well!’”

¹³ At this point, David told Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan responded to David, “There’s one other thing: the Lord has forgiven your sin.^[h] You won’t die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because you have despised the Lord’s enemies with utter contempt,^[i] the son born to you will most certainly die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.

David’s Infant Son Dies

After this, the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child^[j] became very ill. ¹⁶ David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He^[k] fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. ¹⁷ His closest advisors at the palace^[l] got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn’t eat with them.

¹⁸ A week later, the child died, and David’s staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, “Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn’t listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?”

¹⁹ But as David observed his staff whispering together, he perceived that the child had died, so he asked his staff, “Is the child dead?”

They replied, “He has died.”

²⁰ At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the Lord’s tent^[m] to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.

²¹ His staff asked him, “What’s this about? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried. Now that the child has died, you get up and eat!”

²² He answered, “When the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I asked myself, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will show grace to me and the child will live.’ ²³ But now that he has died, what’s the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I’ll be going to be with him, but he won’t be returning to me.”

The Birth of Solomon

²⁴ Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went in and had sex with her, and she bore a son whom he named Solomon. The Lord loved him, ²⁵ and sent a message written by Nathan the prophet to call his name Jedidiah,^[n] for the Lord’s sake.

The Ammonites are Defeated

²⁶ Meanwhile, Joab attacked the Ammonite city of^[o] Rabbah and captured its stronghold. ²⁷ Then Joab sent messengers to David to tell him, “I just attacked Rabbah and captured its municipal water supply, ²⁸ so call out the rest of the army, attack the city, and capture it. Otherwise, I’ll take the city myself and name it after me.” ²⁹ So David mustered his entire army and marched on Rabbah, attacked it, and captured it. ³⁰ He confiscated the crown of their king^[p] from his head—it weighed one talent^[q] in gold and was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He confiscated a great amount of war booty that had been plundered from the city, ³¹ brought back the people who had lived in it, placing them under conscripted labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. He did this to every Ammonite city, and then David and his entire army^[r] returned to Jerusalem.