Psalm 51
Modern English Version
Psalm 51
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to Your lovingkindness;
according to the abundance of Your compassion,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in Your sight,
so that You are justified when You speak,
and You are blameless when You judge.
5 I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward parts,
and in the hidden part You make me to know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones that You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
and uphold me with Your willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
and sinners will return to You.
14 Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God,
God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure;
build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You will be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
then they will offer young bulls on Your altar.
Psalm 51
21st Century King James Version
51 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, Thou desirest truth in my inward parts; in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.
16 For Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
Modern English Version
David and Bathsheba
11 In the spring of the year, the time when the kings go out to battle, David sent out Joab and his officers, all of Israel with him. They brought to ruin the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening when David arose from his bed and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 So, David sent someone to inquire about the woman. And it was asked, “Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. When she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived. So she sent a message and reported to David, “I am pregnant.”
6 Then David sent an order to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” So, Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about the welfare of Joab, the people, and the fighting. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house. Wash your feet.” So Uriah left the house of the king, and a gift from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the house of the king with all of the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his house.
10 When they reported to David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11 Uriah responded to David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah dwell in makeshift shelters. My lord Joab and the officers of my lord are camping in the open field. But I may enter my house to eat, to drink, and to sleep with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!”
12 So David said to Uriah, “Remain here another day, and I will send you back tomorrow.” Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the following day. 13 Now David invited him to eat in his presence, and he drank until he got Uriah drunk. In the evening, he went to lie down in his lodging with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14 That morning, David wrote a message to Joab and sent it by way of Uriah. 15 He wrote in the message, “Send Uriah to the front of the line where the fighting is heaviest then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”
16 So as Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah in a place where he knew fierce men were. 17 When the men of the city came out, they fought with Joab, and some people among those who served David fell; Uriah the Hittite died among them.
18 Joab sent word to inform David of all of the events of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger, “When you finish telling the king all the details of the battle, 20 if his anger rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you approach so near to the city? Did you not know that they might shoot from the city wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek the son of Jerub-Besheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the city wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you approach so near to the city wall?’ You shall then say, ‘Additionally your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ ”
22 So the messenger departed and came to report to David everything that Joab had sent with him. 23 The messenger reported to David, “The men prevailed over us when they came out against us in the open field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from upon the city wall, and some of those who serve the king are dead. Even your servant Uriah the Hittite died.”
25 So David replied to the messenger, “Thus you shall report to Joab, ‘Do not allow this thing to dismay you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Sustain your attack against the city and bring it to ruin.’ Encourage him with this reply.”
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was concluded, David sent for her and brought her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was displeasing to the Lord.
Nathan Rebukes David(A)
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in a certain city. One was wealthy, but the other was poor. 2 The wealthy man had a very large flock and herd, 3 but the poor man had nothing except a single small ewe lamb that he had acquired. He nourished it and raised it together with himself and his sons. From his crumbs, it would eat; from his cup, it would drink; and in his arms it would lie. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “There came a visitor to the wealthy man, but he was unwilling to take from his own flock or herd to prepare a meal for the wanderer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared food for the wanderer who had come to him.”
5 David became very angry because of this man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die. 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan told David, “You are this man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you as king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave to you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave to you the house of Israel and Judah. If this were too little, I would have continued to do for you much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you took his wife as a wife for yourself. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now the sword will 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: See, I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and will give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 Although you did it secretly, I will do this thing before all of Israel, and under the sun.”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”
15 Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had born for David, and he became sick. 16 David entreated God on behalf of the child. He fasted for a period, and he would go in and lie throughout the night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood beside him to rouse him from the ground, but he was not willing, nor would he consume food with them.
18 The child died on the seventh day, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child had died. They said, “When the child was alive, we would speak to him, but he would not acknowledge our voices. Now how can we say to him, ‘The child is dead’? He may do harm.”
19 When David noticed that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his garments. Then he entered the house of the Lord and worshipped. He then went in to his own house. When he asked, they set down food for him and ate.
21 His servants said to him, “What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept for the sake of the living child, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 He explained, “As long as the child was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, so that the child may live.’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
The Birth of Solomon
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife. He went to her and lay with her, so that she conceived a son. They named him Solomon, and the Lord loved him. 25 So He sent a word by way of the prophet Nathan that he should be named Jedidiah for the sake of the Lord.
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
21st Century King James Version
11 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide that David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness; and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah had come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
8 And David said to Uriah, “Go down to thy house and wash thy feet.” And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a meal of meat from the king.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And when they had told David, saying, “Uriah went not down unto his house,” David said unto Uriah, “Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then did thou not go down unto thine house?”
11 And Uriah said unto David, “The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As thou livest and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.”
12 And David said to Uriah, “Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the morrow.
13 And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die.”
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17 And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war,
19 and charged the messenger, saying, “When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
20 and if so be that the king’s wrath arise and he say unto thee, ‘Why approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye fought? Knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? Why went ye nigh the wall?’ — then say thou, ‘Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said unto David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entrance of the gate.
24 And the shooters shot from the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
25 Then David said unto the messenger, “Thus shalt thou say unto Joab: ‘Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another. Press thy battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it’; and encourage thou him.”
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house; and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
12 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds.
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his children; it ate of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he was unwilling to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man who had come unto him, but took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man who had come to him.”
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord liveth, the man who hath done this thing shall surely die.
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
7 And Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul,
8 and I gave thee thy master’s house and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
9 Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised Me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.’
11 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house; and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For thou did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”
13 And David said unto Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said unto David, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.”
14 However, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born unto thee shall surely die.”
15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore unto David, and it was very sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said unto his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him and he ate.
21 Then said his servants unto him, “What thing is this that thou hast done? Thou did fast and weep for the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou did rise and eat bread.”
22 And he said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether God 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, but he shall not return to me.”
24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her and lay with her. And she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon; and the Lord loved him.
25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah [that is, Beloved of the Lord], because of the Lord.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
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