2 Samuel 12

₁The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. He went to David and said to him: ‘There were 2 men in a town. One was a rich man and the other man was poor. ₂The rich man had a lot of sheep, goats and cattle. ₃The poor man had nothing. He had only a little lamb that lived with him and his children. The lamb ate food with him and she drank water from his cup and she slept in his arms. She was like a daughter to him. ₄One day a visitor came to the rich man but the rich man did not want to kill one of his own sheep or cows to give food to the visitor. The rich man took the lamb of the poor man and he killed her and he gave her meat to the visitor to eat.’

₅David was very angry with the rich man. He said to Nathan: ‘As sure as the Lord lives, the man who did that must die. ₆He took one lamb from the poor man, but he must give 4 lambs back because he did this wrong thing and because he did not feel sorry for the poor man.’

₇Then Nathan said to David: ‘You are this rich man. The Lord God of Israel says: “I have chosen you to be the king_of_Israel and I saved you from Saul. ₈I have made you king after Saul and I gave his wives to you. I made you king_of_Israel and of Judah. And if it had not been enough, I would have given you more. ₉Why didn't you listen to Me? Why have you done something that I do not like? You have killed Uriah, the Hittite, and you have taken his wife. You have killed him with the weapons of the Ammonite soldiers. ₁₀That is why there will always be war in your family because you showed that you did not respect Me and you took the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, for yourself.” ₁₁The Lord says: “Now I will bring someone from your family, and he will make you suffer. I will take your wives and I will give them to another person. You will see this. He will have sex with your wives in the daytime, and everyone will see it. ₁₂You have done this bad thing which no one saw, but I will do this thing in the day where all the Israelites can see.” ’

₁₃David said to Nathan: ‘I have sinned_against the Lord.’

Nathan said to David: ‘Yes, the Lord has forgiven your sin because you have said this, and you will not die. ₁₄But because you did this, you did not respect God. That is why the enemies of God will say bad things about God. That is why the son who has been born to you will die, this is sure.’

₁₅Nathan went home. The Lord made the child, the son whom the wife of Uriah had with David, become sick. ₁₆David prayed to God for the child and he fasted and went into his room and that night he lay on the ground. ₁₇The older officials in his house asked him to get up from the ground, but he did not get up and he did not want to eat with them.

₁₈The child died on the 7th day. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. They said: ‘When the child was alive, we talked to the king but he did not want to listen to us, he did not want to eat. We can not tell him now that the child is dead. He will do something bad.’

₁₉David saw that his servants talked behind their hands and then he knew that the child had died. He asked his servants: ‘Is the child dead?’ And they said: ‘Yes, he is dead.’

₂₀Then David got up and he washed and put oil on himself. He put on other clothes and he went to the house of the Lord and prayed. Then he went home and asked for food. They gave him food and he ate. ₂₁His servants asked him: ‘Why do you do this? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat.’ ₂₂David said: ‘When the child was alive, I fasted and cried because I thought maybe God would be good to me and maybe He would let the child live. ₂₃But now that the child has died, why must I fast? Can I make him come alive? No, I will go to him but he can not come back to me.’

₂₄David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and he had sex with her. She had a son and David named him Solomon. The Lord loved this child. ₂₅The Lord sent Nathan to tell David that his name must be Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.

₂₆Joab was fighting against the city of Rabbah of the Ammonites. He defeated and took the part of the city where the king lived. ₂₇Joab then sent a message to David. He said: ‘I have attacked Rabbah and taken the part of the city where the water is. ₂₈Now you must send the other men to come and put up their tents and fight against the city. You must come to defeat the city because if I take it, the city will belong to me.’

₂₉David called all the men together and they went to Rabbah. He attacked the city and defeated it. ₃₀David took the crown off their king's head. The crown was made of one talent of gold and there were beautiful gemstones on the crown. David took the crown and he put it on his own head. He took a lot of the plunder from the city with him when he went back. ₃₁He also took the men from the city and he made them work for him with saws, axes and pickaxes. Some of the men had to make bricks. He did the same with the men in all the cities of Ammon. Then he and his men went back to Jerusalem.