2 Samuel 12:12–18

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.

¹⁶David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David ^afasted and went and ^blay all night on the ground.

^17aThe 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 is dead, since he might do himself harm!”