2 Samuel 12:1-14 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Sends Nathan to David

12Then Yahweh sent ^aNathan to David. And ^bhe came to him and ¹said, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

²“The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.³“But the poor man had nothing except ^aone little ewe lambWhich he bought and nourished;And it grew up together with him and his children.It would eat his morsel of bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,And was like a daughter to him.⁴“Now a visitor came to the rich man,And he ¹was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,To prepare for the traveler who had come to him;Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, surely the man who has done this ¹^,^adeserves to die. ⁶“And he must make restitution for the lamb ^afourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷Nathan then said to David, “^aYou are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^bIt is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸‘I also gave you ^ayour master’s house and your master’s wives into your ¹care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ⁹‘Why ^ahave you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in His sight? ^bYou have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, ^chave taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰‘So now, ^athe sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives from before your sight and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²‘Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’” ¹³Then David said to Nathan, “^aI have sinned against Yahweh.” And Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has ¹^,^btaken away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴“However, because by this deed you have ^agiven occasion to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme, the son also that is born to you shall surely die.”