2 Samuel 12
1 Yahweh [told the prophet Nathan what David had done, and he] sent Nathan to tell [this story to] David: “[I heard about] two men [who] were living in a certain city. One was rich and the other was 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 man owned a lot of cattle and sheep.
The man of wealth had great numbers of flocks and herds;
3 But the poor man had only one little female lamb, which he had bought. He raised the lamb, and it grew up with his children. He would give the lamb some of his own food and let it drink from his cup. He let the lamb sleep in his arms. The lamb was like 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 [One day] a visitor came to [visit] the rich man. The rich man did not want to take one of his own animals [and kill it] to prepare a meal for the visitor. So instead, he stole the poor man’s lamb [and killed it] and prepared a meal for his visitor.”
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 [When] David [heard that, he] was very angry about [what] the rich man [had done]. He said to Nathan, “I solemnly declare that the man who did that should be executed!
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 But before he is executed, he should pay back to the poor man four lambs for doing this, and for not having pity [on the poor man].”
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 Nathan said to David, “You are the man [I have been talking about]! And this is what Yahweh, the God we Israelis [worship], says to you: ‘I appointed you to be king of Israel, after having rescued you from 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 I gave you his palace and his wives. I caused you to become the king to rule Israel and Judah. If [you had told me that] you were not content with what I gave you, I would have given you twice as much!
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 So why have you despised my commandment [about not committing adultery]? You have done what I consider to be very evil! You have arranged for Uriah to be killed in a battle by the Ammon people-group’s soldiers, and you have taken his wife to be your wife!
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 You have despised me, and have taken Uriah’s wife to be your wife. So for many generations some of your descendants will die violently. [MTY, PRS]
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 I solemnly declare to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble to you. I will take your wives and give them to him, and he will have sexual relations with them in the daytime, where everyone can see it, and you will know all about it.
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 What you did, you did secretly, but what I will cause to happen, everyone in Israel will be able to see it [or know about it]. [IDM]’”
You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and in the light of the sun.
13 David replied, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh has forgiven you for your sin: You will not die [because of this sin].
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 But, you have shown contempt for Yahweh by doing this. So, your baby will die.”
But still, because you have had no respect for the Lord, death will certainly overtake the child who has newly come to birth.
15 Then Nathan went home. Then Yahweh caused the baby t o become very sick, the one that Uriah’s wife had given birth to.
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 So David prayed to God that the child [would not die]. He (fasted/abstained from food), and he went into [the room where he slept] and lay all night on the floor.
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 [The next morning] his advisors stood around him and urged him to get up. But he would not get up, and he would not eat any food 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 One week later the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell that to David. They said [to each other], “Hey, while the baby was still alive, we talked to him, but he would not answer us. Now, if we tell him that the baby is dead [RHQ], he may do something to harm himself!”
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 But when David saw that his servants were whispering something to each other, he realized that the baby must be dead. So he asked them, “Is the baby dead?” They replied, “Yes, he is 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 Then David got up from the floor. He bathed himself, put lotions on his body, and put on other clothes, Then he went into Yahweh’s Sacred Tent and worshiped Yahweh. Then he went home. He asked his servants for some food. They gave him some, and he ate it.
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 Then his servants said to him, “We do not understand [RHQ] why you have done this! While the baby was still alive, you cried for him and refused to eat anything. But now that the baby has died, [you are not crying any more!] You got up and ate some food!”
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 David replied, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted and cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Yahweh may be merciful to me and not allow the baby to die’.
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 But now the baby is dead. So (there is no reason for me to (fast/abstain from eating food) any more./why should I (fast/abstain from eating food) any more?) [RHQ] (Can I bring him back to me?/I certainly cannot bring him back to me!) [RHQ] [Some day] I will go to where he is, but he will 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 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba. Then he (slept/had sexual relations) with her, and she [became pregnant again and] gave birth to another son. David named that son Solomon. Yahweh loved that little boy.
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 He told the prophet Nathan to tell David to name the baby boy Jedediah [which means ‘loved by Yahweh’, ] because Yahweh loved him.
And he sent word by Nathan the prophet, who gave him the name Jedidiah, by the word of the Lord.
26 (Meanwhile/While all that was happening), Joab’s [soldiers] attacked Rabbah, [the capital city] of the Ammon people-group; and they captured the king’s fortress.
Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon, and he took the water-town.
27 Then Joab sent messengers to David, to tell him this: “My troops are attacking Rabbah, and we have captured the city’s water supply.
And Joab sent men to David, saying, I have made war against Rabbah and have taken the water-town.
28 Now gather your troops and come and surround the city and capture it. If you do not do that, my troops will capture the city and it will then be named ‘the City of Joab’.”
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 So David gathered all his troops. They went [with David] to Rabbah and attacked it and captured it.
Then David got all the people together and went to Rabbah and made war on it and took it.
30 Then David took the crown from the head of the king of Rabbah (OR, from the head of [Milcom] the god of Rabbah) and put it on his own head. It [was very heavy; it] weighed (75 pounds/34 kg.), and it had many very valuable stones fastened to it. His soldiers also took many other valuable things from the city.
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 Then they brought the people of Rabbah out of the city and forced them to [work for them] using saws and iron picks and axes. David’s troops also forced them to make bricks. David’s soldiers did this in all the towns of the Ammon people-group. Then David and all of his army returned 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.
