2 Samuel 12:1–15

Nathan Rebukes David

11:1; 12:29–31pp—1Ch 20:1–3

12The Lord sent Nathan^h to David.ⁱ When he came to him,^j he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

⁵David^k burned with anger^l against the man^m and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives,ⁿ the man who did this must die! ⁶He must pay for that lamb four times over,^o because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!^p This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed^q you^r king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave your master’s house to you,^s and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why did you despise^t the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down^u Uriah^v the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed^w him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword^x will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household^y I am going to bring calamity on you.^z Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.^{a 12}You did it in secret,^b but I will do this thing in broad daylight^c before all Israel.’ ”

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

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away^e your sin.^f You are not going to die.^{g 14}But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for^a the Lord,^h the son born to you will die.”

¹⁵After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struckⁱ the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.