2 Samuel 12–13

Nathan’s Message and David’s Repentance

12^*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. ²The rich man had many cattle and sheep, ³while 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 with 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. ⁴One day a visitor arrived at the rich man’s home. The rich man didn’t want to kill one of his own animals to prepare a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked a meal for his guest.”

⁵David was very angry with the rich man and said, “I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die! ⁶For 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. ⁸I 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. ⁹Why, 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! ¹⁰Now, 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. ¹⁴But because you have shown such contempt for the Lord in doing this, your child will die.” ¹⁵Then Nathan went home.

David’s Son Dies

The Lord caused the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David to become very ill. ¹⁶David 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. ¹⁷His court officials went to him and tried to make him get up, but he refused and would not eat anything with them. ¹⁸A 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!”

¹⁹When 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.

²⁰David got up from the floor, had a bath, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went and worshipped 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. ²³But 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

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had intercourse with her, and she bore a son, whom David named Solomon. The Lord loved the boy ²⁵and commanded the prophet Nathan to name the boy Jedidiah,^y because the Lord loved him.

David Captures Rabbah

²⁶Meanwhile Joab continued his campaign against Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon, and was about to capture it. ²⁷He sent messengers to David to report: “I have attacked Rabbah and have captured its water supply. ²⁸Now gather the rest of your forces, attack the city and take it yourself. I don’t want to get the credit for capturing it.” ²⁹So David gathered his forces, went to Rabbah, attacked it, and conquered it. ³⁰From the head of the idol of the Ammonite god Molech^z David took a gold crown which weighed about 35 kilogrammes and had a jewel in it. David took the jewel and put it in his own crown.^a He also took a large amount of loot from the city ³¹and put its people to work with saws, iron hoes, and iron axes, and forced them to work at^b making bricks. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.

Amnon and Tamar

13David’s son Absalom had a beautiful unmarried sister named Tamar. Amnon, another of David’s sons, fell in love with her. ²He was so much in love with her that he became ill, because it seemed impossible for him to have her; as a virgin, she was kept from meeting men. ³But he had a friend, a very shrewd man named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shammah. ⁴Jonadab said to Amnon, “You are the king’s son, yet day after day I see you looking sad. What’s the matter?”

“I’m in love with Tamar, the sister of my half-brother Absalom,” he answered.

⁵Jonadab said to him, “Pretend that you are ill and go to bed. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please ask my sister Tamar to come and feed me. I want her to prepare the food here where I can see her, and then serve it to me herself.’ ” ⁶So Amnon pretended that he was ill and went to bed.

King David went to see him, and Amnon said to him, “Please let Tamar come and make a few cakes here where I can see her, and then serve them to me herself.”

⁷So David sent word to Tamar in the palace: “Go to Amnon’s house and prepare some food for him.” ⁸She went there and found him in bed. She took some dough, prepared it, and made some cakes there where he could see her. Then she baked the cakes ⁹and emptied them out of the pan for him to eat, but he wouldn’t. He said, “Send everyone away”—and they all left. ¹⁰Then he said to her, “Bring the cakes here to my bed and serve them to me yourself.” She took the cakes and went over to him. ¹¹As she offered them to him, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me!”

¹²“No,” she said. “Don’t force me to do such a degrading thing! That’s awful! ¹³How could I ever hold up my head in public again? And you—you would be completely disgraced in Israel. Please, speak to the king, and I’m sure that he will give me to you.” ¹⁴But he would not listen to her; and since he was stronger than she was, he overpowered her and raped her.

¹⁵Then Amnon was filled with a deep hatred for her; he hated her now even more than he had loved her before. He said to her, “Get out!”

¹⁶“No,” she answered. “To send me away like this is a greater crime^c than what you just did!”

But Amnon would not listen to her; ¹⁷he called in his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight! Throw her out and lock the door!” ¹⁸The servant put her out and locked the door.

Tamar was wearing a long robe with full sleeves,^d the usual clothing for an unmarried princess in those days.^{e 19}She sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying. ²⁰When her brother Absalom saw her, he asked, “Has Amnon molested you? Please, sister, don’t let it upset you so much. He is your half-brother, so don’t tell anyone about it.” So Tamar lived in Absalom’s house, sad and lonely.

²¹When King David heard what had happened, he was furious. ²²And Absalom hated Amnon so much for having raped his sister Tamar that he would no longer even speak to him.

Absalom’s Revenge

²³Two years later Absalom was having his sheep sheared at Baal Hazor, near the town of Ephraim, and he invited all the king’s sons to be there. ²⁴He went to King David and said, “Your Majesty, I am having my sheep sheared. Will you and your officials come and take part in the festivities?”

²⁵“No, my son,” the king answered. “It would be too much trouble for you if we all went.” Absalom insisted, but the king would not give in, and he asked Absalom to leave.

²⁶But Absalom said, “Well, then, will you at least let my brother Amnon come?” “Why should he?” the king asked. ²⁷But Absalom kept on insisting until David finally let Amnon and all his other sons go with Absalom.

Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king^{f 28}and instructed his servants: “Notice when Amnon has had too much to drink, and then when I give the order, kill him. Don’t be afraid. I will take the responsibility myself. Be brave and don’t hesitate!” ²⁹So the servants followed Absalom’s instructions and killed Amnon. All the rest of David’s sons mounted their mules and fled.

³⁰While they were on their way home, David was told: “Absalom has killed all your sons—not one of them is left!” ³¹The king stood up, tore his clothes in sorrow, and threw himself to the ground. The servants who were there with him tore their clothes also. ³²But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shammah, said, “Your Majesty, they haven’t killed all your sons. Only Amnon is dead. You could tell by looking at Absalom that he had made up his mind to do this from the time that Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³So don’t believe the news that all your sons are dead; only Amnon was killed.”

³⁴In the meantime Absalom had fled.

Just then the soldier on sentry duty saw a large crowd coming down the hill on the road from Horonaim.^g He went to the king and reported what he had seen.^{h 35}Jonadab said to David, “Those are your sons coming, just as I said they would.” ³⁶As soon as he finished saying this, David’s sons came in; they started crying, and David and his officials also wept bitterly.

^37–38*Absalom fled and went to the king of Geshur, Talmai son of Ammihud, and stayed there three years. David mourned a long time for his son Amnon; ³⁹but when he got over Amnon’s death, he was filled with longing for his son Absalom.