SECOND
SAMUEL
2 Samuel Chapter 12
1
¶ Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, In one city there were two men; one was rich, and the other
poor.
2
The rich man had very many sheep and cattle:
3
But the poor man had nothing, other than one little ewe lamb, which he
had bought and brought up: and it grew up with him, and with his children; it
shared his own food, and drank from his own cup, and slept in his arms, and was
like a daughter to him.
4
Then a traveler visited the rich man, and to avoid taking one of his own sheep or
cattle to butcher for the traveler who had come; he took the poor man’s lamb,
and butchered it for his guest.
5
Then David’s anger at the man became furious; and he said to Nathan, As
the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die:
6
And he must also give the man four lambs, because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity.
7
And Nathan said to David, You are the man. The LORD God of
8
And I gave your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and
gave you the house of
9
Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? you have killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, you have
murdered him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10
So now 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 wife.
11
The LORD says, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house,
and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your
neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
12
For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all
13
And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to
David, The LORD has also put away your sin; you will not die.
14
However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of
the LORD to blaspheme, the child that is born to you will surely die.
15
¶ Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick.
16
And David pleaded with God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and
lay all night upon the floor.
17
And the older servants of his house arose, and went to him, to
get him up from the floor: but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
18
And on the seventh day, the child died. And the servants of David were afraid
to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, While the child was yet
alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to what we said: he may harm
himself, if we tell him that the child is dead.
19
But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized that the child was
dead: so David asked his servants, Is the child dead?
And they said, He is dead.
20
Then David got up from the floor, and washed, and anointed himself, and
changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then
he returned to his own house; and when he asked, they set food before him, and
he ate.
21
Then his servants asked him, What is this thing
that you have done? you fasted and wept for the child,
while it was alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.
22
And he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted
and wept: for I said, Who knows whether GOD will be gracious to me, and
let the child live?
23
But now that he is dead, why should I fast? can I
bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.
24
Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her:
and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
25
And he sent a message through Nathan the prophet; and he called his name
Jedidiah, which means beloved of the Lord,
because the LORD loved him.
26
¶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah
of the children of Ammon, and took the royal
fortress.
27
Then Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have
fought against Rabbah, and have captured the water
supply.
28
So now gather the rest of the men, and encamp against the city, and take it:
lest I take the city, and it be named after me.
29
And David gathered all the men together, and went to Rabbah,
and fought against it, and took it.
30
And he took the crown from the head of their king, it
weighed a talent of gold and had precious stones in it: and it was placed
on David’s head. And David took away a large quantity of plunder from the city.
31
And he removed the people that were in the city, and put them
to work with saws, iron harrows, and iron axes, and made them labor at the brickkiln: and he did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then
David and all the men returned to