2 Samuel 12:13-23

Living Bible

¹³ “I have sinned against the Lord,” David confessed to Nathan.

Then Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. ¹⁴ But you have given great opportunity to the enemies of the Lord to despise and blaspheme him, so your child shall die.”

¹⁵ Then Nathan returned to his home. And the Lord made Bathsheba’s baby deathly sick. ¹⁶ David begged him to spare the child and went without food, and lay all night before the Lord on the bare earth. ¹⁷ The leaders of the nation pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. ¹⁸ Then, on the seventh day, the baby died. David’s aides were afraid to tell him.

“He was so broken up about the baby being sick,” they said, “what will he do to himself when we tell him the child is dead?”

¹⁹ But when David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened.

“Is the baby dead?” he asked.

“Yes,” they replied, “he is.” ²⁰ Then David got up off the ground, washed himself, brushed his hair, changed his clothes, and went into the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. Then he returned to the palace and ate. ²¹ His aides were amazed.

“We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the baby was still living, you wept and refused to eat; but now that the baby is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”

²² David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ²³ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”