2 Samuel 12:1–15

¹And Jehovah sendeth Nathan unto David, and he cometh unto him, and saith to him: ‘Two men have been in one city; One rich and one poor; ²The rich hath flocks and herds very many; ³And the poor one hath nothing, Except one little ewe-lamb, Which he hath bought, and keepeth alive, And it groweth up with him, And with his sons together; Of his morsel it eateth, And from his cup it drinketh, And in his bosom it lieth, And it is to him as a daughter; ⁴And there cometh a traveller to the rich man, And he spareth to take Of his own flock, and of his own herd, To prepare for the traveller Who hath come to him, And he taketh the ewe-lamb of the poor man, And prepareth it for the man Who hath come unto him.’ ⁵And the anger of David burneth against the man exceedingly, and he saith unto Nathan, ‘Jehovah liveth, surely a son of death is the man who is doing this, ⁶and the ewe-lamb he doth repay fourfold, because that he hath done this thing, and because that he had no pity.’ ⁷And Nathan saith unto David, ‘Thou art the man! Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, I anointed thee for king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; ⁸and I give to thee the house of thy lord, and the wives of thy lord, into thy bosom, and I give to thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if little, then I add to thee such and such things.

⁹‘Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon.

¹⁰‘And now, the sword doth not turn aside from thy house unto the age, because thou hast despised Me, and dost take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be to thee for a wife; ¹¹thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am raising up against thee evil, out of thy house, and have taken thy wives before thine eyes, and given to thy neighbour, and he hath lain with thy wives before the eyes of this sun; ¹²for thou hast done it in secret, and I do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ ¹³And David saith unto Nathan, ‘I have sinned against Jehovah.’ And Nathan saith unto David, ‘Also—Jehovah hath caused thy sin to pass away; thou dost not die; ¹⁴only, because thou hast caused the enemies of Jehovah greatly to despise by this thing, also the son who is born to thee doth surely die.’

¹⁵And Nathan goeth unto his house, and Jehovah smiteth the lad, whom the wife of Uriah hath born to David, and it is incurable;