2 Samuel 12:1–15
12 The Lord sent Nathanh 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. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but 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.”
5 Davidk burned with angerl against the manm and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives,n the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over,o because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!p This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointedq your king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I 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. 9 Why did you despiset the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck downu Uriahv the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killedw him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the swordx 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 householdy 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 daylightc before all Israel.’ ”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinnedd against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken awaye your sin.f You are not going to die.g 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt fora the Lord,h the son born to you will die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord strucki the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.