Psalm 51
World English Bible
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions.
My sin is constantly before me.
4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned,
and done that which is evil in your sight,
so you may be proved right when you speak,
and justified when you judge.
5 Behold, I was born in iniquity.
My mother conceived me in sin.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.
You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all of my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within me.
11 Don’t throw me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
Sinners will be converted to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.
My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips.
My mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.
You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
Psalm 51
International Standard Version
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
51 Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love,
according to your unlimited compassion,
erase my transgressions.
2 Wash me from my iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgression;
my sin remains continuously before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and done what was evil in your sight.
As a result, you are just in your pronouncement
and clear in your judgment.
5 Indeed, in iniquity I was brought forth;
in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Indeed, you are pleased with truth in the inner person,
and you will teach me wisdom in my[a] innermost parts.
7 Purge me with hyssop,
and I will be clean.
Wash me,
and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me know[b] joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your countenance from my sins
and erase the record of my iniquities.
10 God, create a pure heart in me,
and renew a right attitude within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence;
do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and let a willing attitude control me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors about your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood,[c]
God, God of my salvation.
Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 Indeed, you do not delight in sacrifices,
or I would give them,
nor do you desire burnt offerings.
17 True sacrifice to God[d] is a broken spirit.
A broken and chastened heart, God,
you will not despise.
18 Show favor to Zion in your good pleasure;
and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with right sacrifices,
with burnt offerings, and with whole burnt offerings.
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
Footnotes
- Psalm 51:6 The Heb. lacks my
- Psalm 51:8 Lit. hear
- Psalm 51:14 Lit. from bloods
- Psalm 51:17 Lit. The sacrifice of God
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
World English Bible
11 At the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. 2 At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at. 3 David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, Uriah the Hittite’s wife?”
4 David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
6 David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. 8 David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and didn’t go down to his house. 10 When they had told David, saying, “Uriah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!”
12 David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next day. 13 When David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn’t go down to his house. 14 In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die.”
16 When Joab kept watch on the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. 17 The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of David’s servants; and Uriah the Hittite died also. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19 and he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king, 20 it shall be that, if the king’s wrath arise, and he asks you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate. 24 The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”
25 Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.’ Encourage him.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
12 Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one 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, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. 4 A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! 6 He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity!”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. 9 Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’
11 “This is what Yahweh says: ‘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 will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.”
Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” 15 Nathan departed to his house.
Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants 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 didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived 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, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Yahweh will not 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 will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah,[a] for Yahweh’s sake.
Footnotes
- 12:25 “Jedidiah” means “loved by Yahweh”.
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
International Standard Version
David’s Adultery
11 One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff[a] and all of Israel’s army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. 2 Late one afternoon about dusk,[b] David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there[c] he watched a woman taking a bath, and she[d] was very beautiful to look at.
3 David sent word[e] to inquire about her,[f] and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba,[g] the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” 4 So David sent some messengers, took her from her home,[h] and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.)[i] Then she returned to her home.
5 The woman conceived, and she sent this message[j] to David: “I’m pregnant.”
6 So David summoned Joab, and told him,[k] “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was[l] doing, and how the war was progressing.
8 Then David told Uriah, “Go on down to your house and relax a while.”[m] So Uriah left the king’s palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. 9 But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king’s palace in the company of all his master’s staff members. He refused to go down to his own home.
10 When David was told that Uriah hadn’t gone home the previous night,[n] he quizzed him,[o] “You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn’t you go down to your own house?”
11 Uriah replied, “The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master’s staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life![p] I won’t do something like this, will I?”
12 Then David invited Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. 13 Then at David’s invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord’s servants, and he did not go down to his house.
David Orders Uriah Killed
14 The next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. 15 In the message, he wrote: “Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed.” 16 So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed.[q] 17 When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.
18 Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. 19 He instructed the courier, “When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, 20 if the king starts to get angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Jerubbesheth’s[r] son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
22 So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem,[s] and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger told David, “The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well.”
25 David responded to the messenger, “Here’s what you’re to tell Joab: ‘Don’t be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.’ Be sure to encourage him.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard about the death of her husband[t] Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household.[u] 27 When her mourning period was completed, David sent for her, brought her to his palace, and she became his wife. Later on, she bore him a son.
Meanwhile, what David had done grieved the Lord,[v] 12 1 so the Lord sent Nathan to David.
Nathan’s Rebuke
Nathan[w] approached David[x] 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[y] master’s household.
“‘I placed your former[z] master’s wives right in your arms.
“‘I gave you[aa] 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.[ab]
“‘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.’[ac]
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.[ad] You won’t die. 14 Nevertheless, because you have despised the Lord’s enemies with utter contempt,[ae] 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[af] became very ill. 16 David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He[ag] fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. 17 His closest advisors at the palace[ah] 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[ai] 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,[aj] for the Lord’s sake.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 11:1 Lit. his servants
- 2 Samuel 11:2 Lit. It happened at the time of the evening
- 2 Samuel 11:2 Lit. From the roof
- 2 Samuel 11:2 Lit. and the woman
- 2 Samuel 11:3 The Heb. lacks word
- 2 Samuel 11:3 Lit. the woman
- 2 Samuel 11:3 Eliam’s father was Ahithophel, Bathsheba’s grandfather; cf. 2Sam 15:12; 23:34
- 2 Samuel 11:4 The Heb. lacks from her home
- 2 Samuel 11:4 I.e. a week-long period of ritual exemption from participation in Israel’s social and worship community; cf. Lev 15:19, 28; 18:19
- 2 Samuel 11:5 The Heb. lacks this message
- 2 Samuel 11:6 The Heb. lacks and told him
- 2 Samuel 11:7 Lit. the people were
- 2 Samuel 11:8 Lit. and wash your feet
- 2 Samuel 11:10 The Heb. lacks the previous night
- 2 Samuel 11:10 Lit. Uriah
- 2 Samuel 11:11 Lit. As you live and as your soul lives
- 2 Samuel 11:16 The Heb. lacks stationed
- 2 Samuel 11:21 I.e. Gideon (cf. Judg 8:30-31), also called Jerubbaal (cf. Judg 8:35)
- 2 Samuel 11:22 The Heb. lacks for Jerusalem
- 2 Samuel 11:26 The Heb. word for husband (isha) describes a husband with respect to his relationship with his wife.
- 2 Samuel 11:26 Lit. for her husband; the Heb. word for husband (baal) describes a husband with respect to his role as a household leader.
- 2 Samuel 11:27 Lit. done was grieving in the Lord’s sight; i.e., the act itself is personified here as being distressed in the Lord’s sight
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Lit. He
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Lit. him
- 2 Samuel 12:8 The Heb. lacks former
- 2 Samuel 12:8 The Heb. lacks former
- 2 Samuel 12:8 Lit. you the house of
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Lit. wife
- 2 Samuel 12:10 Lit. wife
- 2 Samuel 12:13 Or has caused your sin to go away; lit. has caused your sin to cross over eastward
- 2 Samuel 12:14 Or because you have given occasion for the Lord’s enemies to show contempt
- 2 Samuel 12:15 Lit. and he
- 2 Samuel 12:16 Lit. David
- 2 Samuel 12:17 Lit. The elders of the house
- 2 Samuel 12:20 Lit. house
- 2 Samuel 12:25 The Heb. name Jedidiah means loved by the Lord
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