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.”