2 Samuel 12–13

NATHAN’S PARABLE AND DAVID’S REPENTANCE

12So the Lord sent Nathan to David.^d When he arrived, he said to him:

There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had very large flocks and herds, ³but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take 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.^D

⁵David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”^e

⁷Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel,^f and I rescued you from Saul. ⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms,^A and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why then have you despised the Lord’s command by doing what I consider^B evil?^g You struck down Uriah^h the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.^{i 10}Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house^j because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.’

¹¹“This is what the Lord says,^k ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another^C before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight.^{D 12}You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’ ”^E

¹³David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”^l

Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die.^{m 14}However, because you treated^F the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”^{n 15}Then Nathan went home.

THE DEATH OF BATHSHEBA’S SON

The Lord struck the baby that Uriah’s^o wife had borne to David, and he became deathly ill. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground.^{p 17}The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”

¹⁹When David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the baby was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?”

“He is dead,” they replied.

²⁰Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So they served him food, and he ate.

²¹His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food.”

²²He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’^{* 23}But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.”^a

THE BIRTH OF SOLOMON

²⁴Then David comforted^b his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and slept with her. She gave birth to a son and named^A him Solomon.^Bc The Lord loved him, ²⁵and he sent a message through the prophet Nathan, who named^C him Jedidiah,^D because of the Lord.

CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF RABBAH

²⁶Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites^d and captured the royal fortress. ²⁷Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have also captured its water supply. ²⁸Now therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will be the one to capture the city, and it will be named after me.” ²⁹So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; he fought against it and captured it. ³⁰He took the crown from the head of their king, and it was placed on David’s head. The crown weighed seventy-five pounds^F of gold, and it had a precious stone in it. In addition, David took away a large quantity of plunder from the city. ³¹He removed the people who were in the city and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to labor at brickmaking.^e He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then he and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

AMNON RAPES TAMAR

13Some time passed. David’s son Absalom^f had a beautiful sister named Tamar,^g and David’s son Amnon^h was infatuated with her. ²Amnon was frustrated to the point of making himself sick over his sister Tamar because she was a virgin, but it seemed impossible to do anything to her. ³Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, a son of David’s brother Shimeah.ⁱ Jonadab was a very shrewd man, ⁴and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the king’s son, so miserable^j every morning? Won’t you tell me?”

Amnon replied, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

⁵Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare a meal in my presence^k so I can watch and eat from her hand.’ ”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my presence so I can eat from her hand.”

⁷David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare a meal for him.”

⁸Then Tamar went to his house while Amnon was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his presence, and baked them. ⁹She brought the pan and set it down in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Everyone leave me!” And everyone left him. ¹⁰“Bring the meal to the bedroom,” Amnon told Tamar, “so I can eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom. ¹¹When she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said,^A “Come sleep with me, my sister!”

¹²“Don’t, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t disgrace^l me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel.^m Don’t commit this outrage!^{n 13}Where could I ever go with my humiliation? And you—you would be like one of the outrageous fools in Israel! Please, speak to the king, for he won’t keep me from you.” ¹⁴But he refused to listen to her, and because he was stronger than she was, he disgraced her by raping her.

¹⁵So Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that the hatred he hated her with was greater than the love he had loved her with. “Get out of here!” he said.

¹⁶“No,” she cried,^B “sending me away is much worse than the great wrong you’ve already done to me!”

But he refused to listen to her. ¹⁷Instead, he called to the servant who waited on him, “Get this away from me, throw her out, and bolt the door behind her!” ¹⁸Amnon’s servant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a long-sleeved robe garment, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. ¹⁹Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head^a and went away crying out.

²⁰Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman^b in the house of her brother Absalom.

ABSALOM MURDERS AMNON

²¹When King David heard about all these things, he was furious. ²²Absalom didn’t say anything to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon since he disgraced his sister Tamar.

²³Two years later, Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons. ²⁴Then he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired sheepshearers. Will the king and his servants please come with your servant?”

²⁵The king replied to Absalom, “No, my son, we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he wasn’t willing to go, though he did bless him.

²⁶“If not,” Absalom said, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.”

The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷But Absalom urged him, so he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons.^E

²⁸Now Absalom commanded his young men, “Watch Amnon until he is in a good mood from the wine. When I order you to strike Amnon, then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Am I not the one who has commanded you? Be strong and valiant!”^{c 29}So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. Then all the rest of the king’s sons got up, and each fled on his mule.

³⁰While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom struck down all the king’s sons; not even one of them survived!” ³¹In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.^d

³²But Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah,^e spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, because only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this^A ever since the day Amnon disgraced his sister Tamar. ³³So now, my lord the king, don’t take seriously the report that says all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

³⁴Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man who was standing watch looked up, there were many people coming from the road west of him from the side of the mountain.^{B 35}Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king’s sons have come! It’s exactly…