2 Samuel 12 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 The Lord sent Nathan to see David. When he got there, he said, “Once there were two men living in the same town. One was rich, and one was poor.
1 Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had many thousands of sheep and cattle,
2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,
3 but the poor man didn't have anything but one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He cared for it, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his plate and drink from his cup. It slept on his lap and was like a daughter to him.
3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.
4 One day the rich man had a visitor. He didn't want to take one of his own sheep or cattle to feed his visitor. He took the poor man's lamb instead to prepare a meal for his visitor.”
4 A traveler came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David became absolutely furious with what that man did, and angrily told Nathan. “As the Lord lives, the man who did this should be put to death!
5 David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!
6 He must repay that lamb with four of his own for doing this, for being so heartless.”
6 He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!”
7 “You are that man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel, and I saved you from Saul.
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master's house to you and placed your master's wives in your lap. I gave you the kingdom of Israel and Judah, and if that hadn't been enough, I would have given you so much more.
8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things.
9 So why have you treated what the Lord said with contempt by doing evil in his sight? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and stole his wife—you killed him using the sword of the Ammonites.
9 Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 So your descendants will always face the sword that kills because you treated me with contempt and stole Uriah's wife.
10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’
11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I'm going to bring disaster on you from your own family. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to someone else, and he will sleep openly with your wives where everyone can see.
11 “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
12 You did it all in secret, but I will do it openly where everyone in all of Israel can see.’”
12 For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” “The Lord has forgiven your sins. You're not going to die,” Nathan replied.
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
14 “But because by doing this you have treated the Lord with complete contempt, the son you have will die.”
14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
15 Then Nathan went home. The Lord made the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David become very sick.
15 Then Nathan departed to his house. Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he was very sick.
16 David pleaded with God on behalf of the boy. He fasted, went to his bedroom, and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
16 David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground.
17 His senior officials approached him and tried to help him up from the ground, but he didn't want to, and he refused their appeals to eat.
17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. But David's officials were scared to tell him that the child was dead, for they said to each other, “Look, while the child was still alive, we talked with him, and he refused to listen to us. How on earth can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something really bad!”
18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself if we tell him that the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw his officials were whispering among themselves, he realized that the child was dead. So he asked his officials, “Did the child die?” “Yes, he died,” they replied.
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.”
20 David got up from the ground, washed and put on scented oils, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Afterwards he went back home, and asked for some food. So they served him a meal which he ate.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate.
21 “Why are you acting like this?” his officials asked him. “While the child was still alive, you fasted and cried aloud, but now that he's dead, you get up and eat.”
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
22 David replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and cried aloud, for I thought to myself, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will be gracious to me and let him live.’
22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’
23 But now that he's dead, what's the point for me to go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? One day I will die and go to him, but he will never come back to me.”
23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and he made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child,
24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him;
25 so he sent a message through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.
25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh’s sake.
26 At this time Joab had been fighting against the Ammonite town of Rabbah, and had captured the royal fortress.
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
27 Joab sent messengers to David to tell him, “I have attacked Rabbah and I have also captured its water supply.
27 Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, I have taken the city of waters.
28 So please call up the rest of the army, besiege the town, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city, and I will get the credit.”
28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called by my name.”
29 So David called up the rest of the army and marched on Rabbah. He attacked it and captured it.
29 David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, and fought against it and took it.
30 He took the crown from the head of their king, and it was placed on David's head. It weighed a talent of gold and was decorated with precious stones. David took a large amount of plunder from the town.
30 He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of plunder out of the city.
31 David took the inhabitants and forced them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he also made them work making bricks. He did the same in all the Ammonite towns. Then David and the whole Israelite army returned to Jerusalem.
31 He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them go to the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Bathsheba
Wife of David and mother of Solomon, remembered amid both sin and grace.
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 1-2; Matthew 1:6
David
The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6
Joab
Son of Zeruiah and commander of David's army, who killed Abner and Amasa, besieged Rabbah, killed Absalom in the oak, and carried out David's census.
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 2:13; 2 Samuel 3:27; 2 Samuel 12:26
Nathan
The prophet to whom David confided his wish to build a house for the ark, who carried the LORD's promise of an enduring house to David, rebuked him with the parable of the ewe…
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 7:4; 2 Samuel 12:1
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 51:1–19; 1 Kings 20:35–41; Judges 9:7–15; Isaiah 5:1–7; 1 Kings 13:1
- 2 2 Samuel 12:8; 2 Samuel 3:2–5; Job 1:3; 2 Samuel 5:13–16; 2 Samuel 15:16
- 3 Micah 7:5; 2 Samuel 11:3; Deuteronomy 13:6; Proverbs 5:18–19
- 4 James 1:14; 2 Samuel 11:3–4; Genesis 18:2–7
- 5 Genesis 38:24; Romans 2:1; 1 Samuel 26:16; Luke 6:41–42; 1 Samuel 25:21–22
- 6 Exodus 22:1; Proverbs 6:31; Luke 19:8; James 2:13
- 7 Matthew 14:14; 1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Samuel 22:1; 1 Samuel 18:21; 2 Samuel 22:49
- 8 Psalm 84:11; 2 Samuel 9:7; 2 Samuel 12:11; 2 Samuel 5:5; 2 Samuel 2:4
- 9 1 Samuel 15:19; Psalm 90:8; Amos 2:4; Jeremiah 18:10; Psalm 139:1–2
- 10 2 Samuel 18:14–15; Matthew 26:52; Romans 2:4; 2 Samuel 13:28–29; Genesis 20:3
- 11 2 Samuel 16:21–22; Deuteronomy 28:30; 2 Samuel 13:1–14; 2 Samuel 15:10; 2 Samuel 13:28–29
- 12 2 Samuel 16:22; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Luke 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Samuel 11:4–15
- 13 Proverbs 28:13; 2 Samuel 24:10; Zechariah 3:4; Psalm 51:4; Micah 7:18–19
- 14 Romans 2:24; Isaiah 52:5; Psalm 89:31–33; Psalm 94:12; Proverbs 3:11–12
- 15 1 Samuel 25:38; Psalm 104:29; Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 26:10; 2 Kings 15:5
- 16 2 Samuel 13:31; Jonah 3:9; Esther 4:16; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Samuel 12:22
- 17 2 Samuel 3:35; 1 Samuel 28:23
- 18 Numbers 20:15
- 20 Job 1:20; Ruth 3:3; Lamentations 3:39–41; Job 2:10; Ecclesiastes 9:8
- 21 1 Corinthians 2:15
- 22 Isaiah 38:5; Isaiah 38:1–3; Jonah 3:9–10; Joel 1:14; Jonah 1:6
- 23 Genesis 37:35; Job 30:23; Luke 23:43; Job 7:8–10
- 24 Matthew 1:6; 1 Chronicles 28:5–6; 1 Chronicles 29:1; 1 Chronicles 22:9–10; 2 Samuel 7:12
- 25 2 Samuel 7:4; Nehemiah 13:26; 1 Kings 1:11; 1 Kings 1:23; 2 Samuel 12:1–14
- 26 1 Chronicles 20:1–3; Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 11:25
- 27 Ezekiel 21:20; Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 11:1
- 28 John 7:18
- 30 1 Chronicles 20:2
- 31 1 Chronicles 20:3; Amos 1:3; 2 Samuel 8:2; Psalm 21:8–9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And David's anger being kindled against the man, he commanded that he should be put to death, and the lamb restored fourfold to the poor man; thus unwittingly condemning the sin he had wittingly committed. And when he had been shown this, and God's punishment had been denounced against him, he wiped out his sin in deep penitence.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… Saul, and give thee all that pertained to thy master, and all the house of Israel and Judah, and if it had been little for thee, I would have added thus and thus; and wherefore hast thou done that which was evil in my sight?" For not for all sins are there the same punishments, but many and diverse, according …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… standing round: for he had seen in thought the angel-host of the Lord, and he trembled as seeing Him who is invisible; and to the messenger, or rather by him in answer to God who sent him, he said, I have sinned against the Lord.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Luke ascends through Nathan another son of the same David, through whom he was purged from his sin. For we read, that Nathan was sent to him to reprove him, and that he might through repentance be healed.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
Moreover her husband in war he caused to be killed: and after this deed there was sent to him Nathan the prophet; sent by the Lord, to reprove him for so great an outrage.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)