2 Samuel 12:1–31

¹ Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking 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.” ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.” ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. 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 command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, 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 own.’ ¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. ¹² You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.” ¹⁵ After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them. ¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while… ¹⁹ …