Old/New Testament
Nathan Speaks to David
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, “There were two men in a city. One man was rich, but the other man was poor. 2 The rich man had lots of sheep and cattle. 3 But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb that he bought. The poor man fed the lamb, and the lamb grew up with this poor man and his children. She ate from the poor man’s food and drank from his cup. The lamb slept on the poor man’s chest. The lamb was like a daughter to the poor man.
4 “Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to give food to the traveler, but he did not want to take any of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler. No, the rich man took the lamb from the poor man and cooked it for his visitor.”
5 David became very angry with the rich man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this should die! 6 He must pay four times the price of the lamb because he did this terrible thing and because he had no mercy.”
Nathan Tells David About His Sin
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that rich man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I chose[a] you to be the king of Israel. I saved you from Saul. 8 I let you take his family and his wives, and I made you king of Israel and Judah. As if that had not been enough, I would have given you more and more. 9 So why did you ignore my command? Why did you do what I say is wrong? You let the Ammonites kill Uriah the Hittite, and you took his wife. It is as if you yourself killed Uriah in war. 10 So your family will never have peace! When you took Uriah’s wife, you showed that you did not respect me.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am bringing trouble against you. This trouble will come from your own family. I will take your wives from you and give them to someone who is very close to you. He will have sexual relations with your wives, and everyone will know it![b] 12 You had sexual relations with Bathsheba in secret, but I will punish you so that all the people of Israel can see it.’”[c]
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan said to David, “The Lord will forgive you, even for this sin. You will not die. 14 But you did things that made the Lord’s enemies lose their respect for him, so your new baby son will die.”
David and Bathsheba’s Baby Dies
15 Then Nathan went home. And the Lord caused the baby boy who was born to David and Uriah’s wife to become very sick. 16 David prayed to God for the baby. David refused to eat or drink. He went into his house and stayed there and lay on the ground all night.
17 The leaders of David’s family came and tried to pull David up from the ground, but he refused to get up. He refused to eat with these leaders. 18 On the seventh day the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell David that the baby is dead, he might do something bad to himself.”
19 David saw his servants whispering and understood that the baby was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?”
The servants answered, “Yes, he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the floor. He washed himself. He changed his clothes and got dressed. Then he went into the Lord’s house to worship. After that he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.
21 David’s servants asked him, “Why are you doing this? When the baby was alive, you cried and refused to eat. But when the baby died you got up and ate food.”
22 David said, “While the baby was still living, I cried and refused to eat because I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ 23 But now the baby is dead, so why should I refuse to eat? Can I bring the baby back to life? No. Some day I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife. He slept with her and had sexual relations with her. Bathsheba became pregnant again and had another son. David named the boy Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon 25 and sent word for Nathan the prophet to give Solomon the name Jedidiah.[d] So Nathan did this for the Lord.
David Captures Rabbah
26 Rabbah was the capital city of the Ammonites. Joab fought against Rabbah and captured it. 27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured its water supply. 28 Now bring the rest of the army together and attack Rabbah. Capture this city before I do, or else it will be called by my name.”
29 So David gathered all the soldiers together and went to Rabbah. He fought against Rabbah and captured the city. 30 David took the crown off their king’s head.[e] The crown was gold and weighed about 75 pounds.[f] This crown had precious stones in it. They put the crown on David’s head. David took many valuable things out of the city.
31 David also brought out the people of the city of Rabbah and made them work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also forced them to build things with bricks. He did the same thing to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the army went back to Jerusalem.
Amnon and Tamar
13 David had a son named Absalom. Absalom had a very beautiful sister named Tamar. Another one of David’s sons, Amnon,[g] was in love with Tamar. 2 She was a virgin. Amnon wanted her very much, but he did not think it was possible for him to have her. He thought about her so much that he made himself sick.[h]
3 Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah. (Shimeah was David’s brother.) Jonadab was a very clever man. 4 He said to Amnon, “You are the king’s son. So why do you always look so sad? Tell me what the trouble is!”
Amnon told Jonadab, “I love Tamar. But she is the sister of my half-brother Absalom.”
5 Jonadab said to Amnon, “Go to bed. Pretend you are sick. Then your father will come to see you. Tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in and give me food to eat. Let her make the food in front of me. Then I will see it and eat it from her hand.’”
6 So Amnon lay down in bed and pretended to be sick. King David came in to see Amnon. He said to King David, “Please let my sister Tamar come in. Let her make two cakes for me while I watch. Then I can eat from her hands.”
7 David sent messengers to Tamar’s house. They told her, “Go to your brother Amnon’s house and make some food for him.”
8 So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon. He was in bed. Tamar took some dough, pressed it together with her hands, and cooked the cakes. She did this while he watched. 9 Then Tamar took the cakes out of the pan and set them out for him. But he refused to eat. He said to his servants, “Get out of here. Leave me alone!” So all of his servants left the room.
Amnon Rapes Tamar
10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom and feed me by hand.”
So Tamar took the cakes she had made and went into her brother’s bedroom. 11 She started to feed Amnon, but he grabbed her hand. He said to her, “Sister, come and sleep with me.”
12 Tamar said to Amnon, “No, brother! Don’t force me to do this. Don’t do this shameful thing! Terrible things like this should never be done in Israel! 13 I would never get rid of my shame, and people would think that you are just a common criminal. Please, talk with the king. He will let you marry me.”
14 But Amnon refused to listen to Tamar. He was stronger than she was, so he forced her to have sexual relations with him. 15 Then Amnon began to hate Tamar. He hated her much more than he had loved her before. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out of here!”
16 Tamar said to Amnon, “No! Don’t send me away like this. That would be even worse than what you did before!”
But Amnon refused to listen to Tamar. 17 He called his servant and said, “Get this girl out of this room, now! And lock the door after her.”
18 So Amnon’s servant led Tamar out of the room and locked the door.
Tamar was wearing a long robe with many colors.[i] The king’s virgin daughters wore robes like this. 19 Tamar tore her robe of many colors and put ashes on her head. Then she put her hand on her head and began crying.[j]
20 Then Tamar’s brother Absalom said to her, “Have you been with your brother Amnon? Did he hurt you? Now, calm down sister. Amnon is your brother, so we will take care of this. Don’t let it upset you too much.” So Tamar did not say anything. She quietly went to live at Absalom’s house.[k]
21 King David heard the news and became very angry, but he did not want to say anything to upset Amnon, because he loved him since he was his firstborn son.[l] 22 Absalom began to hate Amnon. Absalom did not say one word, good or bad, to Amnon, but he hated him because Amnon had raped his sister Tamar.
Absalom’s Revenge
23 Two years later, Absalom had some men come to Baal Hazor to cut the wool from his sheep. He invited all the king’s sons to come and watch. 24 Absalom went to the king and said, “I have some men coming to cut the wool from my sheep. Please come with your servants and watch.”
25 King David said to Absalom, “No, son. We will not all go. It will be too much trouble for you.”
Absalom begged David to go. David did not go, but he did give his blessing.
26 Absalom said, “If you don’t want to go, please let my brother Amnon go with me.”
King David asked Absalom, “Why should he go with you?”
27 Absalom kept begging David. Finally, David let Amnon and all the king’s other sons go with Absalom.
Amnon Is Murdered
28 Then Absalom gave this command to his servants, “Watch Amnon. When he is drunk and feeling good from the wine, I will give you the command. You must attack Amnon and kill him. Don’t be afraid of being punished. After all, you will only be obeying my command. Now, be strong and brave.”
29 So Absalom’s young soldiers did what he said. They killed Amnon. But all of David’s other sons escaped. Each son got on his mule and escaped.
David Hears About Amnon’s Death
30 The king’s sons were still on their way into town. But King David got a message about what happened. But the message was, “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons! Not one of the sons was left alive.”
31 King David tore his clothes and lay on the ground.[m] All of David’s officers standing near him also tore their clothes.
32 But then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “Don’t think that all the king’s sons were killed! Only Amnon is dead. Absalom has been planning this from the day that Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 My lord and king, don’t think that all of your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”
34 Absalom ran away.
There was a guard standing on the city wall. He saw many people coming from the other side of the hill, and went to tell the king. 35 So Jonadab said to King David, “Look, I was right! The king’s sons are coming.”
36 The king’s sons came in just after Jonadab said that. They were crying loudly. David and all of his officers began crying. They all cried very hard. 37 David cried for his son every day.
Absalom Escapes to Geshur
Absalom ran away to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur.[n] 38 After Absalom had run away to Geshur, he stayed there for three years. 39 King David was comforted after Amnon died, but he missed Absalom very much.
True Wealth
16 Jesus said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He hired a manager to take care of his business. Later, he learned that his manager was cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can’t be my manager anymore.’
3 “So, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me. I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. 4 I know what I will do! I will do something to make friends, so that when I lose my job, they will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in each person who owed the master some money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘I owe him 100 jars[a] of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill. Hurry! Sit down and make the bill less. Write 50 jars.’
7 “Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘I owe him 100 measures[b] of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 80 measures.’
8 “Later, the master told the dishonest manager that he had done a smart thing. Yes, worldly people are smarter in their business with each other than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, use the worldly things you have now to make ‘friends’ for later. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed into a home that lasts forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, you will not be trusted with the true riches. 12 And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, you will not be given anything of your own.
13 “You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one master and love the other. Or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money[c] at the same time.”
God’s Law Cannot Be Changed(A)
14 The Pharisees were listening to all these things. They criticized Jesus because they all loved money. 15 Jesus said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people. But God knows what is really in your hearts. What people think is important is worth nothing to God.
16 “Before John the Baptizer came, people were taught the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But since the time of John, the Good News about God’s kingdom is being told. And everyone is trying hard to get into it. 17 But even the smallest part of a letter in the law cannot be changed. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman is guilty of adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. He was so rich that he was able to enjoy all the best things every day. 20 There was also a very poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus’ body was covered with sores. He was often put by the rich man’s gate. 21 Lazarus wanted only to eat the scraps of food left on the floor under the rich man’s table. And the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “Later, Lazarus died. The angels took him and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 He was sent to the place of death[d] and was in great pain. He saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life. But Lazarus had nothing but problems. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you, and no one can come here from there.’
27 “The rich man said, ‘Then please, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house on earth. 28 I have five brothers. He could warn my brothers so that they will not come to this place of pain.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to read; let them learn from that.’
30 “The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! But if someone came to them from the dead, then they would decide to change their lives.’
31 “But Abraham said to him, ‘If your brothers won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen to someone who comes back from the dead.’”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International