OET-RV 2SA Chapter 12

12 So Yahweh sent Natan to David to tell him, “Once there was a rich man and a poor man living in the same city.[ref] 2 The rich man had a large number of flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man only had one little female lamb that he’d bought. It grew up with him and his sons, and would eat his left-overs and drink from his cup and lay down in his lap—it was like a daughter to him. 4 One day the rich man had a visitor, but instead of taking one of his own animals for a meal, he killed the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the meal for his guest.”

5 David got very angry listening to that and told Natan, “By the life of Yahweh, the man that did that definitely deserves to be put to death! 6 He must pay back four lambs for doing that and for having no pity on that poor man.”

7 Then Natan said to David, “You are that rich man. Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to you: ‘I myself anointed you as king over Israel, and I myself kept you safe from Sha’ul. 8 I gave you the house that belonged to your master, as well as his wives. I made you king over both Israel and Yehudah. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve given you more and more. 9 So why have you despised my commands by doing what you knew was evil? You had Uriyyah the Hittite killed with an Ammonite sword and you took his wife for yourself. 10 So now, because you despised me and took Uriyyah’s wife as your own, war and violence will never go away from you and your descendants. 11 I will cause a disaster to hit you from within your own household—I’ll take your wives and give them to a family member right in front of your eyes, and he will let everyone know that he’s sleeping with your wives.[ref] 12 You did what you did in secret, but I myself will do all this in public before all Israel.’ ”

13 “Yes, I’ve sinned against Yahweh,” David responded to Natan.

“Yahweh has taken away your sin,” Natan replied. “You won’t die. 14 Nevertheless, because you have utterly disrespected Yahweh in this matter, also your new son is certainly going to die.” 15 Then Natan went home.

Then Yahweh caused the baby (that Uriyyah’s wife had given birth to) to get sick. 16 David pleaded with Yahweh for the boy’s sake, and he fasted, and he spent the entire night lying down on the ground. 17 The influential members of his household got beside him to try to get him up from the ground, but he wouldn’t budge, and he wouldn’t eat anything they brought. 18 Then on the seventh day, the baby died, but David’s servants were afraid to tell him because after seeing his response when the child was sick, they were afraid of what he might do to himself when he found out that his son had died.

19 However, when David noticed his servants whispering together, he realised that the baby must have died, and he asked them, “Did the baby die?”

“Yes,” they answered, “he passed away.”

20 Then David got up from the ground and washed, and he rubbed lotions on and changed his clothes, then he entered Yahweh’s tent and worshipped him. Then he went back home and asked for food to be served, and he ate.

21 His servants queried him, “We don’t understand what just happened: when the baby was alive you fasted and wept, but yet when he dies, you get up and have a meal?”

22 “While the child was still alive,” David replied, “I fasted and I wept, because I thought, ‘Who knows? Yahweh might be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23 But now that he’s dead, there’s no more reason to fast—I can’t bring him back again. One day I’ll go to him, but he’ll never come back here to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Batsheva.

Then David went to Batsheva and slept with her, and in due course she gave birth to a son. David he named him Shelomoh (Solomon), and Yahweh loved that boy 25 and sent the prophet Natan to name him Yedidyah[fn] (which means ‘loved by Yahweh’) for Yahweh’s sake.

26 Then Yoav fought the Ammonites at Rabbah and captured their palace, 27 then he sent messengers to David to tell him, “I’ve fought against Rabbah and I’ve overthrown the city’s water supply. 28 So now, gather the rest of our fighters and lay siege to the city and capture it. Otherwise I’ll do it and then it’ll be named after me. 29 So David gathered all his warriors and went to Rabbah, where he attacked the city and captured it. 30 He took the king’s crown off his head (it was gold and weighed around 30kg), and it was placed on his head. A lot of other plunder was also taken from the city. 31 The inhabitants of Rabbah were brought out and assigned to work at the brick kiln with saws, iron picks, and axes. (He did that to all the Ammonite cities.) Then David and all his people returned to Yerushalem.