2 Samuel 12 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter continues the story of what David did as the king of Israel. It describes how Yahweh began to make David experienced the consequences of his sins of adultery and murder. Yahweh sent the prophet Nathan to David to get him to acknowledge and confess these sins. Nathan told a story that enabled David to recognize how wrong his actions had been. David confessed his sin, and Nathan told him that Yahweh had forgiven him, but nevertheless there would be consequences. The child whom David had fathered would die, and there would be perpetual violence within David’s family. David fasted and prayed in the hopes that Yahweh would spare the child, but the child died. David showed that he respected Yahweh’s will by ending his fast and going to worship Yahweh. Later, David and Bathsheba had another child, one whom Yahweh welcomed. David also participated in the final conquest of the Ammonite capital city of Rabbah.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

In [verses 7–12](../12/07.md), where Nathan gives David a message from Yahweh, there is a long quotation within a quotation. The entire message is something that Nathan said that the author is quoting, so that is a first-level quotation. But within this message, Nathan tells David what Yahweh has said, so that is a quotation within a quotation, or a second-level quotation. Your language may use quotation marks or some other punctuation or convention to indicate various levels of quotation. The ULT and UST models ways to do that. You could also translate the whole message in such a way that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Notes suggest how you might do that.

Textual Issues in This Chapter

“the enemies of Yahweh” ([12:14](../12/14.md))

In [12:14](../12/14.md), Nathan tells David that he has utterly spurned “the enemies of Yahweh.” The Septuagint (an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and three of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ancient manuscripts that are independent of the traditional Hebrew text) do not have the expression “the enemies of.” Some interpreters suggest that out of respect for David, in order to avoid saying that he had utterly spurned Yahweh, later scribes may have substituted the phrase about Yahweh’s enemies for a direct reference to Yahweh himself. Scribes may have done similar things in other places. (For example, if you have already translated the book of 1 Samuel, see how you translated the expression in [1 Samuel 20:16](../../1sa/20/16.md) about “the enemies of David.”) Another possibility is that the word translated as “spurned” has a meaning here that it does not have in other places. Here it might mean that David has given the enemies of Yahweh occasion to blaspheme him, that is, to say that worshiping Yahweh does not make someone a better person. If a translation of the Bible exists in your region, you may wish to use the reading that it uses. If a translation of the Bible does not exist in your region, you may wish to use the reading of the ULT.