Nathan’s Parable and David’s Repentance

12 So the Lord sent Nathan to David.^(A) When he arrived, he said to him:

There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very large flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.^[a]

⁵ David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”^(B)

⁷ Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel,^(C) and I rescued you from Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms,^[b] and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why then have you despised the Lord’s command by doing what I consider^[c] evil?^(D) You struck down Uriah^(E) the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.^{(F) 10} Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house^(G) because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says,^(H) ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another^[d] before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight.^{[e] 12} You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’”^[f]

¹³ David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”^(I)

Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die.^{(J) 14} However, because you treated^[g] the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”^(K)