¹⁰“ ‘So time after time members of your own royal house will be killed with swords. That’s because you turned your back on me. You took the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be your own.’

¹¹“The Lord also says, ‘I am going to bring trouble on you. It will come from your own family. I will take your wives away. Your own eyes will see it. I will give your wives to a man who is close to you. He will have sex with them in the middle of the day. ¹²You committed your sins in secret. But I will make sure that the sin the man commits with your wives will take place in the middle of the day. Everyone in Israel will see it.’ ”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You aren’t going to die. ¹⁴But you have dared to make fun of the Lord. So the son who has been born to you will die.”

¹⁵Nathan went home. Then the Lord made the child that had been born to Uriah’s wife by David very sick.

¹⁶David begged God to heal the child. David didn’t eat anything. He spent his nights lying on the ground. ¹⁷His most trusted servants stood beside him. They wanted him to get up from the ground. But he refused to do it. And he wouldn’t eat any food with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him the child was dead. They thought, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to David. But he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He might do something terrible to himself.”

¹⁹David saw that his servants were whispering to each other. Then he realized the child was dead. “Has the child died?” he asked.

“Yes,” they replied. “He’s dead.”

²⁰Then David got up from the ground. After he washed himself, he put on lotions. He changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord and worshiped him. Then he went to his own house. He asked for some food. They served it to him. And he ate it.

²¹His servants asked him, “Why are you acting like this? While the child was still alive, you wouldn’t eat anything. You cried a lot. But now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”

²²He answered, “While the child was still alive, I didn’t eat anything. And I cried a lot. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord might show favor to me. He might let the child live.’ ²³But now he’s dead. So why should I go without eating? Can I bring him back to life again? Someday I’ll go to him. But he won’t return to me.”

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and made love to her. Some time later she had a son. He was given the name Solomon. The Lord loved him. ²⁵So the Lord sent a message through the prophet Nathan. It said, “Name the boy Jedidiah.”

David Captures the City of Rabbah

²⁶During that time, Joab fought against Rabbah. It was the royal city of the Ammonites. It had high walls around it. Joab was about to capture it. ²⁷He sent messengers to David. He told them to say, “I have fought against Rabbah. I’ve taken control of its water supply. ²⁸So bring the rest of the troops together. Surround the city and get ready to attack it. Then capture it. If you don’t, I’ll capture it myself. Then it will be named after me.”

²⁹So David brought the whole army together and went to Rabbah. He attacked it and captured it. ³⁰He took the gold crown off the head of the king of Ammon. The crown weighed 75 pounds. It had jewels in it. It was placed on David’s head. He took a huge amount of goods from the city. ³¹He brought out the people who were there. He made them work with saws and iron picks and axes. He forced them to make bricks. He did that to all of the towns in Ammon. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

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