2 Samuel 12–13

CHAPTER 12

Yahweh Sends Nathan to David

¹Then Yahweh sent ^aNathan to David. And ^bhe came to him and ¹said,

“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

²“The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.

³“But the poor man had nothing except ^aone little ewe lamb

Which he bought and nourished;

And it grew up together with him and his children.

It would eat his morsel of bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,

And was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a visitor came to the rich man,

And he ¹was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,

To prepare for the traveler who had come to him;

Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, surely the man who has done this ^1adeserves to die.

⁶“And he must make restitution for the lamb ^afourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷Nathan then said to David, “^aYou are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^bIt is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.

⁸‘I also gave you ^ayour master’s house and your master’s wives into your ¹care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!

⁹‘Why ^ahave you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in His sight? ^bYou have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, ^chave taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁰‘So now, ^athe sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives from before your sight and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

¹²‘Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “^aI have sinned against Yahweh.” And Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has ^1btaken away your sin; you shall not die.

¹⁴“However, because by this deed you have ^agiven occasion to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme, the son also that is born to you shall surely die.”

¹⁵And Nathan went to his house.

David’s Child Dies

Then Yahweh smote the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, so that he was very sick.

¹⁶David therefore sought God about the boy; and David ^afasted and went and ^bspent the night lying on the ground.

^17aAnd the elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.

¹⁸Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child has died? He might do himself harm!”

¹⁹And David saw that his servants were whispering together, so David discerned that the child had died; so David said to his servants, “Has the child died?” And they said, “He has died.”

²⁰So David arose from the ground, ^awashed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of Yahweh and ^bworshiped. Then he came to his own house, and he asked, and they set food before him, and he ate.

²¹Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? ¹While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

²²Then he said, “While the child was still alive, ^aI fasted and wept; for I said, ‘^bWho knows, Yahweh may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’

²³“But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? ^aI will go to him, but ^bhe will not return to me.”

Solomon Is Born

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and ^1ahe named him Solomon. Now Yahweh loved him

²⁵and sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him ¹Jedidiah for the sake of Yahweh.

Joab Fights Ammon

^26aThen Joab fought against ^bRabbah of the sons of Ammon and captured the royal city.

²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters.

²⁸“So now, gather the rest of the people together and camp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city myself and it be named after me.”

²⁹So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it.

³⁰Then ^ahe took the crown of ¹their king from his head; and its weight was a ²talent of gold, and in it ³was a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city in a very great amount.

³¹He also brought out the people who were in it and ^aset them up with saws, sharp iron instruments, and iron axes, and made them pass through the brickkiln. And thus he used to do to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 13

Amnon Violates Tamar

¹Now it happened afterwards that ^aAbsalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was ^bTamar, and ^cAmnon the son of David loved her.

²And Amnon was so distressed because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin. So it was hard in Amnon’s sight to do anything to her.

³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of ^1aShimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very ²shrewd man.

⁴And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Then Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”

⁵Jonadab then said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; and your father will come to see you, and you will say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat from her hand.’”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and the king came to see him, and Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and ^amake me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷Then David sent to the house for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.”

⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was lying down. And she took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.

⁹And she took the pan and ¹dished them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “^aHave everyone go out from me.” So everyone went out from him.

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the ¹bedroom, that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon.

¹¹Then she brought them near to him to eat, but he ^atook hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”

¹²But she said to him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for ^asuch a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this ^bdisgraceful thing!

¹³“As for me, where could I ¹get rid of my reproach? And as for you, you will be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. So now, please speak to the king, for ^ahe will not withhold me from you.”

¹⁴But he was not willing to listen to her voice. Now he was stronger than she, so he ^aviolated her and lay with her.

¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!”

¹⁶But she said to him, “No, because this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you have done to me!” But he was not willing to listen to her.

¹⁷Then he called his young man who attended him and said, “Now cast this woman out of my presence, and lock the door behind her.”

¹⁸Now she had on ^aa ¹long-sleeved garment; for in this manner the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then his attendant took her out and locked the door behind her.

^19aThen Tamar put ¹ashes on her head and ^btore her ²long-sleeved garment which was on her; and ^cshe put her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.

²⁰So Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now keep silent, my sister, he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained and was desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.

²¹Now when King David heard of all these matters, he was very angry.

²²But Absalom did not speak to Amnon ^aeither good or bad; for ^bAbsalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.

²³Now it happened after two full years that Absalom ^ahad sheepshearers in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

Absalom Strikes Down Amnon

²⁴And Absalom came to the king and said, “Behold now, your servant has sheepshearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant.”

²⁵But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, we should not all go, for we will be burdensome to you.” Although he ¹urged him, he was not willing to go, but blessed him.

²⁶Then ^aAbsalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” And the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?”

²⁷But Absalom ¹urged him, so he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons with him.

²⁸Then Absalom commanded his young men, saying, “See now, ^awhen Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then put him to death. Do not fear; have not I myself commanded you? Be strong and be ¹valiant.”

²⁹Thus the young men of Absalom did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose and each mounted ^ahis mule and fled.

³⁰Now it was while they were on the way that the report came to David, saying, “Absalom has struck down all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left.”

³¹Then the king arose, ^a…