The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had given birth to for David so that the child became sick. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and lay on the ground all night. ¹⁷The older leaders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling. And he wouldn’t eat with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. But David’s officials were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. They thought, “While the child was alive, we talked to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may harm ⸤himself⸥.”

¹⁹But when David saw that his officials were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” David asked them.

“⸤Yes,⸥ he is dead,” they answered.

²⁰So David got up from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the Lord’s house and worshiped. Then he went home and asked for food. They placed food in front of him, and he ate.

²¹His officials asked him, “Why are you acting this way? You fasted and cried over the child when he was alive. But as soon as the child died, you got up and ate.”

²²David answered, “As long as the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’

Read in Logos