1 Then the Lord sent Nathan vnto Dauid, who came to him, and sayd vnto him, There were two men in one citie, the one riche, and the other poore. 2 The rich man had exceeding many sheepe and oxen: 3 But the poore had none at all, saue one litle sheepe which he had bought, and nourished vp: and it grew vp with him, and with his children also, and did eate of his owne morsels, and dranke of his owne cup, and slept in his bosome, and was vnto him as his daughter. 4 Now there came a stranger vnto the rich man, who refused to take of his owne sheepe, and of his owne oxen to dresse for the stranger that was come vnto him, but tooke the poore mans sheepe, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 Then Dauid was exceeding wroth with the man, and sayde to Nathan, As the Lord liueth, the man that hath done this thing, shall surely dye, 6 And he shall restore the lambe foure folde, because he did this thing, and had no pitie thereof. 7 Then Nathan sayd to Dauid, Thou art the man. Thus sayth the Lord God of Israel, I anoynted thee King ouer Israel, and deliuered thee out of the hand of Saul, 8 And gaue thee thy lordes house, and thy lords wiues into thy bosome, and gaue thee the house of Israel, and of Iudah, and would moreouer (if that had bene too litle) haue giuen thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandement of the Lord, to doe euill in his sight? thou hast killed Vriah the Hittite with ye sworde, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slaine him with the sworde of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sworde shall neuer depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and taken the wife of Vriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus sayth the Lord, Behold, I will rayse vp euil against thee out of thine owne house, and will take thy wiues before thine eyes, and giue them vnto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this sunne. 12 For thou diddest it secretly: but I will doe this thing before all Israel, and before the sunne. 13 Then Dauid sayde vnto Nathan, I haue sinned against the Lord. And Nathan sayde vnto Dauid, The Lord also hath put away thy sinne, thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit because by this deede thou hast caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the childe that is borne vnto thee shall surely die. 15 So Nathan departed vnto his house: and the Lord stroke the childe that Vriahs wife bare vnto Dauid, and it was sicke. 16 Dauid therefore besought God for the childe, and fasted and went in, and lay all night vpon the earth. 17 Then the Elders of his house arose to come vnto him, and to cause him to rise from the groud: but he would not, neither did he eate meate with them. 18 So on the seuenth day the child dyed: and the seruants of Dauid feared to tell him that the childe was dead: for they sayde, Beholde, while the childe was aliue, we spake vnto him, and he woulde not hearken vnto our voyce: how then shall we say vnto him, The childe is dead, to vexe him more? 19 But when Dauid sawe that his seruantes whispered, Dauid perceiued that the childe was dead: therefore Dauid sayde vnto his seruants, Is the childe dead? And they sayd, He is dead. 20 Then Dauid arose from the earth, and washed and anoynted himselfe, and changed his apparell, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped, and afterward came to his owne house, and bade that they should set bread before him, and he did eate. 21 Then saide his seruants vnto him, What thing is this, that thou hast done? thou diddest fast and weepe for the childe while it was aliue, but when the childe was dead, thou diddest rise vp, and eate meate. 22 And he sayde, While the childe was yet aliue, I fasted, and wept: for I sayde, Who can tell whether God will haue mercy on me, that the childe may liue? 23 But now being dead, wherefore shoulde I now fast? Can I bring him againe any more? I shall goe to him, but he shall not returne to me. 24 And Dauid comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in vnto her, and lay with her, and she bare a sonne, and he called his name Salomon: also the Lord loued him. 25 For the Lord had sent by Nathan the Prophet: therefore he called his name Iedidiah, because the Lord loued him. 26 Then Ioab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and tooke the citie of the kingdome. 27 Therefore Ioab sent messengers to Dauid, saying, I haue fought against Rabbah, and haue taken the citie of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and besiege the city, that thou mayest take it, lest the victorie be attributed to me. 29 So Dauid gathered al the people together, and went against Rabbah, and besieged it, and tooke it. 30 And he tooke their Kings crowne from his head, (which weighed a talent of golde, with precious stones) and it was set on Dauids head: and he brought away the spoyle of the citie in exceeding great abundance. 31 And he carryed away the people that was therein, and put them vnder sawes, and vnder yron harowes, and vnder axes of yron, and cast them into the tyle kylne: euen thus did he with all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then Dauid and all the people returned vnto Ierusalem.
Nathan's Message and David's Repentance
1 The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, “There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had many cattle and sheep, 3 while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. 4 One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest.”
5 David became very angry at the rich man and said, “I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die! 6 For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took.”
7 “You are that man,” Nathan said to David. “And this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul. 8 I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah. If this had not been enough, I would have given you twice as much. 9 Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! 10 Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife. 11 I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. 12 You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.’”
13 “I have sinned against the Lord,” David said.
Nathan replied, “The Lord forgives you; you will not die. 14 But because you have shown such contempt for the Lord in doing this, your child will die.” 15 Then Nathan went home.
David's Son Dies
The Lord caused the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David to become very sick. 16 David prayed to God that the child would get well. He refused to eat anything, and every night he went into his room and spent the night lying on the floor. 17 His court officials went to him and tried to make him get up, but he refused and would not eat anything with them. 18 A week later the child died, and David's officials were afraid to tell him the news. They said, “While the child was living, David wouldn't answer us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that his child is dead? He might do himself some harm!”
19 When David noticed them whispering to each other, he realized that the child had died. So he asked them, “Is the child dead?”
“Yes, he is,” they answered.
20 David got up from the floor, took a bath, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went and worshiped in the house of the Lord. When he returned to the palace, he asked for food and ate it as soon as it was served. 21 “We don't understand this,” his officials said to him. “While the child was alive, you wept for him and would not eat; but as soon as he died, you got up and ate!”
22 “Yes,” David answered, “I did fast and weep while he was still alive. I thought that the Lord might be merciful to me and not let the child die. 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Could I bring the child back to life? I will some day go to where he is, but he can never come back to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had intercourse with her, and she bore a son, whom David named Solomon. The Lord loved the boy 25 and commanded the prophet Nathan to name the boy Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.
David Captures Rabbah
(1 Chronicles 20.1-3)26 Meanwhile Joab continued his campaign against Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon, and was about to capture it. 27 He sent messengers to David to report: “I have attacked Rabbah and have captured its water supply. 28 Now gather the rest of your forces, attack the city and take it yourself. I don't want to get the credit for capturing it.” 29 So David gathered his forces, went to Rabbah, attacked it, and conquered it. 30 From the head of the idol of the Ammonite god Molech David took a gold crown which weighed about seventy-five pounds and had a jewel in it. David took the jewel and put it in his own crown. He also took a large amount of loot from the city 31 and put its people to work with saws, iron hoes, and iron axes, and forced them to work at making bricks. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.