2 Samuel 12:1–15

Nathan Rebukes David

¹Then the Lord 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 of his ¹bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,

And was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a traveler came to the rich man,

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

To prepare for the wayfarer 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 the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this ^1adeserves to die.

⁶“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 the Lord 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 the Lord 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‘Now therefore, ^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 the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in ¹broad daylight.

¹²‘Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and ¹under the sun.’ ”

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

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

¹⁵So Nathan went to his house.

Loss of a Child

Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s ¹widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.