2 Samuel 12
1 And YHWH sends Nathan to David, and he comes to him, and says to him: “Two men have been in one city, one rich and one poor.
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to him and said, There were two men in the same town: one a man of great wealth, and the other a poor man.
2 The rich has very many flocks and herds,
The man of wealth had great numbers of flocks and herds;
3 but the poor one has nothing, except one little ewe-lamb which he has bought and keeps alive. And it grows up together with him and with his sons. It eats of his morsel, and it drinks from his cup, and it lies in his bosom, and it is as a daughter to him.
But the poor man had only one little she-lamb, which he had got and taken care of: from its birth it had been with him like one of his children; his meat was its food, and from his cup it took its drink, resting in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
4 And a traveler comes to the rich man, and he spares to take from his own flock, and from his own herd, to prepare for the traveling [man] who has come to him; and he takes the ewe-lamb of the poor man and prepares it for the man who has come to him.”
Now a traveller came to the house of the man of wealth, but he would not take anything from his flock or his herd to make a meal for the traveller who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and made it ready for the man who had come.
5 And the anger of David burns against the man exceedingly, and he says to Nathan, “YHWH lives, surely the man who is doing this [is] a son of death,
And David was full of wrath against that man; and he said to Nathan, By the living Lord, death is the right punishment for the man who has done this:
6 and [for] the ewe-lamb he repays fourfold, because that he has done this thing, and because that he had no pity.”
And he will have to give back four times the value of the lamb, because he has done this and because he had no pity.
7 And Nathan says to David, “You [are] the man! Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: I anointed you for king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul;
And Nathan said to David, You are that man. The Lord God of Israel says, I made you king over Israel, putting holy oil on you, and I kept you safe from the hands of Saul;
8 and I give to you the house of your lord, and the wives of your lord, into your bosom, and I give the house of Israel and Judah to you; and if [that is] too little, then I add such and such [things] to you.
I gave you your master's daughter and your master's wives for yourself, and I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had not been enough, I would have given you such and such things.
9 Why have you despised the word of YHWH, to do evil in His eyes? You have struck Uriah the Hittite by the sword, and you have taken his wife for a wife for yourself, and you have slain him by the sword of the sons of Ammon.
Why then have you had no respect for the word of the Lord, doing what is evil in his eyes? You have put Uriah the Hittite to death with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife; you have put him to death with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 And now, the sword does not turn aside from your house for all time, because you have despised Me, and take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be for a wife for yourself;
So now the sword will never be turned away from your family; because you have had no respect for me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
11 thus said YHWH: Behold, I am raising up calamity against you, out of your [own] house, and have taken your wives before your eyes, and given [them] to your neighbor, and he has lain with your wives before the eyes of this sun;
The Lord says, From those of your family I will send evil against you, and before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he will take your wives to his bed by the light of this sun.
12 for you have done [it] in secret, and I do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and in the light of the sun.
13 And David says to Nathan, “I have sinned against YHWH.” And Nathan says to David, “Also—YHWH has caused your sin to pass away; you do not die;
And David said to Nathan, Great is my sin against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord has put away your sin; death will not come on you.
14 only, because you have caused the enemies of YHWH to greatly despise by this thing, also—the son who is born to you surely dies.”
But still, because you have had no respect for the Lord, death will certainly overtake the child who has newly come to birth.
15 And Nathan goes to his house, and YHWH strikes the boy, whom the wife of Uriah has borne to David, and it is incurable;
Then Nathan went back to his house. And the hand of the Lord was on David's son, the child of Uriah's wife, and it became very ill.
16 and David seeks God for the youth, and David keeps a fast, and has gone in and lodged, and lain on the earth.
So David made prayer to God for the child; and he took no food day after day, and went in and, stretching himself out on the earth, was there all night.
17 And [the] elderly of his house rise against him, to raise him up from the earth, and he has not been willing, nor has he eaten bread with them;
And the chief men of his house got up and went to his side to make him get up from the earth, but he would not; and he would not take food with them.
18 and it comes to pass on the seventh day, that the boy dies, and the servants of David fear to declare to him that the boy is dead, for they said, “Behold, in the boy being alive we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice; and how do we say to him, The boy is dead? Then he has done evil.”
And then on the seventh day the child's death took place. And David's servants were in fear of giving him the news of the child's death: for they said, Truly, while the child was still living he gave no attention when we said anything to him: what will he do to himself if we give him word that the child is dead?
19 And David sees that his servants are whispering, and David understands that the boy is dead, and David says to his servants, “Is the boy dead?” And they say, “Dead.”
But when David saw that his servants were talking together quietly, he was certain that the child was dead: and he said to his servants, Is the child dead? and they said, He is.
20 And David rises from the earth, and bathes and anoints [himself], and changes his raiment, and comes into the house of YHWH, and bows himself, and comes to his house, and asks and they place bread for him, and he eats.
Then David got up from the earth, and after washing and rubbing himself with oil and changing his clothing, he went into the house of the Lord and gave worship: then he went back to his house, and at his order they put food before him and he had a meal.
21 And his servants say to him, “What [is] this thing you have done? Because of the living boy you have fasted and you weep, and when the boy is dead you have risen and eat bread.”
Then his servants said to him, Why have you been acting in this way? you were weeping and going without food while the child was still living; but when the child was dead, you got up and had a meal.
22 And he says, “While the boy is alive I have fasted and I weep, for I said, Who knows [if] YHWH pities me and the boy has lived?
And he said, While the child was still living I went without food and gave myself up to weeping: for I said, Who is able to say that the Lord will not have mercy on me and give the child life?
23 And now, he has died, why [is] this—I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I am going to him, and he does not return to me.”
But now that the child is dead there is no reason for me to go without food; am I able to make him come back to life? I will go to him, but he will never come back to me.
24 And David comforts his wife Bathsheba, and goes in to her, and lies with her, and she bears a son, and he calls his name Solomon; and YHWH has loved him,
And David gave comfort to his wife Bath-sheba, and he went in to her and had connection with her: and she had a son to whom she gave the name Solomon. And he was dear to the Lord.
25 and sends by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and calls his name Jedidiah, because of YHWH.
And he sent word by Nathan the prophet, who gave him the name Jedidiah, by the word of the Lord.
26 And Joab fights against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and captures the royal city,
Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon, and he took the water-town.
27 and Joab sends messengers to David and says, “I have fought against Rabbah—I have also captured the city of waters;
And Joab sent men to David, saying, I have made war against Rabbah and have taken the water-town.
28 and now, gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city, and capture it, lest I capture the city, and my name has been called on it.”
So now, get the rest of the people together, and put them in position against the town and take it, for if I take it, it will be named after my name.
29 And David gathers all the people, and goes to Rabbah, and fights against it, and captures it;
Then David got all the people together and went to Rabbah and made war on it and took it.
30 and he takes the crown of their king from off his head, and its weight [is] a talent of gold, and precious stones, and it is on the head of David; and he has brought out the spoil of the city—very much;
And he took the crown of Milcom from his head; the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were stones of great price; and it was put on David's head. And he took a great store of goods from the town.
31 and he has brought out the people who [are] in it, and sets [them] to the saw, and to cutting instruments of iron, and to axes of iron, and has caused them to pass over into the brick-kiln; and so he does to all the cities of the sons of Ammon; and David turns back, and all the people, to Jerusalem.
And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and iron axes, and at brick-making: this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.
