Old/New Testament

Nathan’s Picture-Story about David

12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in one city. One was rich and the other was poor. ² The rich man had many flocks and cattle. ³ But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb which he bought and fed. It grew up together with him and his children. It would eat his bread and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man. But the rich man was not willing to take from his own flock or his own cattle, to make food for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s female lamb and made it ready for the man who had come to him.” ⁵ David was very angry at the man, and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, for sure the man who has done this should die. ⁶ And he must pay four times the worth of the lamb, because he did this thing without pity.”

⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose you to be the king of Israel. I saved you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave you Saul’s family and Saul’s wives into your care. I gave you the nations of Israel and Judah. And if this were too little, I would give you as much more. ⁹ Why have you hated the Word of the Lord by doing what is bad in His eyes? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife. You have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ So now some from your family, even in the future, will die by the sword, because you have turned against Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹ This is what the Lord says: ‘See, I will bring trouble against you from your own family. I will take your wives in front of your eyes and give them to your neighbor. He will lie with your wives in the light of day. ¹² You did it in secret. But I will do this in front of all Israel, and under the sun.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to him, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die. ¹⁴ But by this act you have given those who hate the Lord a reason to speak against the Lord. The child that is born to you will die for sure.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.

David’s Son Dies

The Lord sent trouble upon the child of Uriah’s wife and David, so that he was very sick. ¹⁶ David begged God to make the child well. He went without food and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ The leaders of his family stood beside him to lift him up from the ground. But David was not willing. He would not eat food with them. ¹⁸ The child died on the seventh day. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “See, we spoke to him while the child was still alive, and he did not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He might hurt himself.” ¹⁹ But when David saw his servants speaking together in secret, he understood that the child was dead. He asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” ²⁰ So David got up from the ground, washed, poured oil on himself, and changed his clothes. Then he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He returned to his own house and asked for food. So they set food in front of him, and he ate. ²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While the child was alive, you went without food and cried. But when the child died, you got up and ate food.” ²² David said, “I went without food and cried while the child was still alive, for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord might be kind to me and let the child live.’ ²³ But now he has died. Why should I go without food? Can I bring him to life again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Solomon Is Born

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went in and lay with her, and she gave birth to a son. He gave him the name Solomon. The Lord loved him, ²⁵ and sent word through Nathan who spoke for God. And Nathan gave him the name Jedidiah because of the Lord.

David Takes Rabbah

²⁶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the king’s city. ²⁷ Joab sent men to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah. I have taken the city of waters. ²⁸ So gather the rest of the people together. Go against the city and take it, or I will take the city myself and it will be called by my name.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah. He fought against it, and took it. ³⁰ Then he took the very heavy crown from their king’s head. In it were beautiful stones of much worth. The crown was put on David’s head. And he brought a large amount of things out of the city. ³¹ He brought out the people who were in it also. He made them work with saws, sharp iron tools, and iron axes. And he made them work in the heat making building stones. He did this to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Amnon and Tamar

13 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. And David’s son Amnon loved her. ² Amnon was so troubled because of his sister Tamar that he became sick. She was a woman who had never had a man, and Amnon thought how hard it would be to have her. ³ But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimeah. And Jonadab was very good at making plans. ⁴ He said to Amnon, “O son of the king, why are you so sad from day to day? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.” ⁵ Then Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘I beg you, let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat. Let her make food ready here so I can see it and eat it from her hand.’” ⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “I beg you, let my sister Tamar come and make two loaves beside me, that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷ Then David sent home for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and make food for him.” ⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house. He was lying down. And she took dough and made loaves so he could watch. Then she baked them ready to eat. ⁹ And she took the dish and held it out in front of him. But he would not eat. Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me.” So everyone left him. ¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food to my room, so I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the loaves she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in his room. ¹¹ When she brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” ¹² But she said, “No, my brother. Do not make me. For such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this bad and foolish thing! ¹³ As for me, where could I get rid of my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. So now I beg you, speak to the king, for he will not keep me from you.” ¹⁴ But Amnon would not listen to her. Being stronger than she, he made her lay with him.

¹⁵ Then Amnon hated her very much. He hated her more than he had loved her. He said to her, “Get up! Go away!” ¹⁶ But she said to him, “No! Sending me away is worse than what you have done to me!” But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷ He called the young man who helped him and said, “Throw this woman out of my house, and lock the door behind her.” ¹⁸ Now she was wearing a dress which covered her arms. For this is how the king’s daughters dressed when they had never had a man. The man who helped Amnon took her out and locked the door behind her. ¹⁹ Then Tamar put ashes on her head. She tore the dress she was wearing which covered her arms. And she put her hand on her head and went away with a loud cry.

²⁰ Absalom her brother said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this to heart.” So Tamar stayed in her brother Absalom’s house, sad and alone. ²¹ When King David heard about all this, he was very angry. ²² But Absalom did not speak good or bad to Amnon. Absalom hated Amnon because he had put his sister to shame.

Absalom Kills Amnon

²³ After two full years, Absalom had men cut the wool from the sheep in Baal-hazor, near Ephraim. And Absalom asked all the king’s sons to come. ²⁴ He came to the king and said, “See, your servant has men to cut the wool from the sheep. Let the king and his men go with your servant.” ²⁵ But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We should not all go, or we will be trouble for you.” Absalom tried to talk him into going. The king prayed that good would come to him, but he would not go with him. ²⁶ Then Absalom said, “If you will not go, let my brother Amnon go with us.” And the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷ But when Absalom kept asking him, he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.

²⁸ Then Absalom told his servants, “Watch when Amnon’s heart is happy with wine. When I say to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ then put him to death. Do not be afraid. Have not I myself told you to do it? Have strength of heart.” ²⁹ So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon just as Absalom had told them. Then all the king’s sons got up on their horses and left in a hurry.

³⁰ While they were on their way, the news came to David, saying, “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons. Not one of them is left.” ³¹ The king got up and tore his clothes, and lay on the ground. And all his servants standing beside him tore their clothes. ³² But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “Do not let my lord think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons. Only Amnon is dead. Absalom has wanted to kill him since the day he put his sister Tamar to shame. ³³ So do not let my lord the king take this to heart and think that all the king’s sons are dead, for only Amnon is dead.”

Absalom Goes to Geshur

³⁴ Now Absalom had run away. And the young man who kept watch looked up and saw many people coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain. ³⁵ Jonadab said to the king, “See, the king’s sons have come. What your servant said is true.” ³⁶ As soon as he had finished speaking, the king’s sons came and cried in a loud voice. The king and all his servants cried also.

³⁷ Absalom ran away and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. And David was filled with sorrow for his son every day. ³⁸ So Absalom had run away to Geshur, and was there three years. ³⁹ The spirit of King David wanted very much to go out to Absalom. For he was comforted about Amnon, since he was dead.

The Picture-Story of the Boss Who Stole

16 Jesus said to His followers, “There was a rich man who put a boss over his houses and lands. Someone told him that his boss was not using his riches in a right way. ² The rich man sent for the boss and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Tell me what you have done with my things. You are not to be the boss of my houses and lands anymore.’

³ “The boss said to himself, ‘What will I do now? The owner of the houses and lands is taking my work away from me. I cannot dig in the ground for a living. I am too proud to ask for help. ⁴ I know what I will do. I will make it so that when I lose this work I will be able to go to the homes of my friends.’

⁵ “He sent for the people who owed the rich man. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe the owner?’ ⁶ The first man said, ‘One hundred barrels of oil.’ The boss said to him, ‘Take your bill. Sit down at once and change it to fifty.’ ⁷ He asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One hundred bags of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and change it to eighty.’ ⁸ Then the rich man said that this sinful boss had been wise to plan for himself for the days ahead. For the people of the world are wiser in their day than the children of light.

⁹ “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by using the riches of the world that are so often used in wrong ways. So when riches are a thing of the past, friends may receive you into a home that will be forever. ¹⁰ He that is faithful with little things is faithful with big things also. He that is not honest with little things is not honest with big things. ¹¹ If you have not been faithful with riches of this world, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² If you have not been faithful in that which belongs to another person, who will give you things to have as your own? ¹³ No servant can have two bosses. He will hate the one and love the other. Or, he will be faithful to one and not faithful to the other. You cannot be faithful to God and to riches at the same time.”

Jesus Teaches That the Law Is Not Finished

¹⁴ The proud religious law-keepers heard all these things. They loved money so they made fun of Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “You are the kind of people who make yourselves look good before other people. God knows your hearts. What men think is good is hated in the eyes of God. ¹⁶ Until John came, you had the writings of the Law and of the early preachers. From that time until now the Good News of the holy nation of God has been preached. Everyone is pushing his way in. ¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one small part of a word in the Law to be of no more use.

¹⁸ “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman is not faithful in marriage and is guilty of sex sins.

The Rich Man and the Man Who Begged for Food

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who dressed in purple linen clothes everyday. He lived like a king would live with the best of food. ²⁰ There was a poor man named Lazarus who had many bad sores. He was put by the door of the rich man. ²¹ He wanted the pieces of food that fell from the table of the rich man. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The poor man who asked for food died. He was taken by the angels into the arms of Abraham. The rich man died also and was buried. ²³ In hell the rich man was in much pain. He looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus beside him. ²⁴ He cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me. Send Lazarus. Let him put the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in much pain in this fire.’ ²⁵ Abraham said, ‘My son, do not forget that when you were living you had your good things. Lazarus had bad things. Now he is well cared for. You are in pain. ²⁶ And more than all this, there is a big deep place between us. No one from here can go there even if he wanted to go. No one can come from there.’

²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Father, then I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house. ²⁸ I have five brothers. Let him tell them of these things, or they will come to this place of much pain also.’ ²⁹ Abraham said, ‘They have the Writings of Moses and of the early preachers. Let them hear what they say.’ ³⁰ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will be sorry for their sins and turn from them.’ ³¹ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and to the early preachers, they will not listen even if someone is raised from the dead.’”