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.