2 Samuel 12

The prophet Nathan rebukes David

12 The Lord God sent Nathan the prophet to David. Nathan went and said:

— There were two men who lived in the same city: one was rich, and the other was poor. 2 The rich man had a lot of cattle and sheep, 3 while the poor man had only one sheep, which he had bought. He took care of her, and she grew up in his house, along with his children. He fed her his own food, let her drink from her own cup, and she slept in her lap. The sheep was like a daughter to him. 4 One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's house. He did not want to kill one of his own animals to prepare a meal for the visitor; instead, he took the poor man's sheep, killed it, and prepared a meal from it for his guest.

5 Then David was furious with the man and said,

"I swear by the Lord, the living God, that the man who did this must be put to death!" 6 He must repay four times what he took, for doing such a cruel thing!

7 Then Nathan said to David,

“That man is you. And this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I made you king over Israel and saved you from Saul. 8 I gave him his kingdom and his wives; I made you king of Israel and Judah. And if that wasn't enough, I would have given you twice as much. 9 Why did you disobey my commandments and do this horrible thing? You caused Uriah the Hittite to be killed in battle; he let the Ammonites kill him and then he took his wife! 10 Therefore, because you disobeyed me and took Uriah's wife, some of your descendants will always die a violent death. 11 And I also say that I will make one of your own family cause your misfortune. You will see it when I take your wives and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. 12 You sinned in secret, in secret, but I will make it happen in broad daylight for all the people of Israel to see.”

13 Then David said:

— I have sinned against God, the Lord.

Nathan replied:

— The Lord has forgiven your sin; you will not die. 14 But because, by doing this, you showed such contempt for the Lord, your son will die.

15 Then Nathan went home.

The death of the son of David and Bathsheba

So the Lord made the son of David and Uriah's wife very sick. 16 David prayed to God that the child would heal, and he would not eat anything. He went into his room and spent the entire night lying on the floor. 17 Then the palace officials tried to get David to get up, but he would not and would not eat with them. 18 A week later the child died, and the officials were afraid to tell David the news. They said:

— While the child was alive, David did not respond when we spoke to him. How are we going to tell him the child died? He might do something crazy!

19 When David saw the officials whispering to one another, he understood that the child had died. Then he asked:

"Did the child die?"

- He died! they replied.

20 Then David got up from the ground, took a shower, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the house of the Lord God and worshiped him. When he got back to the palace, he asked for food and quickly ate what was served.

21 Then his officers said,

“We don't understand this. While the boy was alive, the master wept for him and did not eat; but as soon as he died, the master got up and ate!

22 — Yes! replied David. “While the boy was alive, I fasted and wept because the Lord would take pity on me and not let him die. 23 But now that he is dead, why fast? Could I make him live again? One day I will go to where he is, but he will never come back to me.

The Birth of Solomon

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had relations with her, and she gave birth to a son, whom David named Solomon. God loved the boy 25 and commanded the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah because the Lord God loved him.