- 2 Samuel
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12
Nathan rebuked David
1 Yahweh told the prophet Nathan what David had done, and he sent Nathan to tell this story to David: “ I heard about two men who were living In a certain city. One was rich and the other was poor. 2 The rich man owned lot of cattle and sheep. 3 But the poor man had only one little female lamb, which he had bought. He raised the lamb, and it grew up with his children. He would give the lamb some of his own food and let it drink from his cup. He let the lamb sleep in his arms. The lamb was like a daughter to him.
4 One day a visitor came to visit the rich man. The rich man did not want to take one of his own animals and kill it to prepare a meal for the visitor. So instead, he stole the poor man's lamb and killed it and prepared a meal for his visitor.”
5 When David heard that, he was very angry about what the rich man had done. He said to Nathan, “I solemnly declare that the man who did that should be executed! 6 But before he is executed, he should pay back to the poor man four lambs for doing this, and for not having pity on the poor man.”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man I have been talking about! And this is what Yahweh, the God we Israelis worship, says to you: ‘I appointed you to be king of Israel, after having rescued you from Saul. 8 I gave you his palace and his wives. I caused you to become the king to rule Israel and Judah. If you had told me that you were not content with what I gave you, I would have given you twice as much! 9 So why have you despised my commandment about not committing adultery? You have done what I consider to be very evil! You have arranged for Uriah to be killed in a battle by the Ammon people-group's soldiers, and you have taken his wife to be your wife! 10 You have despised me, and have taken Uriah's wife to be your wife. So for many generations some of your descendants will die violently [MTY, PRS]. 11 I solemnly declare to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble to you. I will take your wives and give them to him, and he will have sex with them in the daytime, where everyone can see it, and you will know all about it. 12 What you did, you did secretly, but what I will cause to happen, everyone in Israel will be able to see it or know about it [IDI].’ ”
13 David replied, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh has overlooked your sin: you will not die because of this sin. 14 But, you have shown contempt for Yahweh by doing this. So, your baby will die.”
15 Then Nathan went home.
David's baby died
Then Yahweh caused the baby, the one that Uriah's wife had given birth to, to become very sick. 16 So David prayed to God that the child would not die. He ◄fasted/abstained from food►, and he went into the room where he slept and lay all night on the floor. 17 The next morning his most important servants stood around him and tried to urge him to get up. But he would not get up, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 One week later the baby died. David's servants were afraid to tell that to David. They said to each other, “Hey, while the baby was still alive, we talked to him, but he would not answer us. Now, if we tell him that the baby is dead, [RHQ] he may do something to harm himself!”
19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering something to each other, he realized that the baby must be dead. So he asked them, “Is the baby dead?” They replied, “Yes, he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the floor. He bathed himself, put lotions on his body, and put on other clothes, Then he went into Yahweh's Sacred Tent and worshiped Yahweh. Then he went home. He requested his servants for some food. They gave him some, and he ate it.
21 Then his servants said to him, “We do not understand [RHQ] why you have done this! While the baby was still alive, you cried for him and refused to eat anything. But now that the baby has died, you are not crying any more You got up and ate some food!”
22 He replied, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted and cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Yahweh may act mercifully toward me and not allow the baby to die’. 23 But now the baby is dead. So ◄there is no reason for me to ‘fast/abstain from eating food’ any more./why should I ‘fast/abstain from eating food’ any more?► [RHQ] ◄Can I bring him back to me?/I certainly cannot bring him back to me!► [RHQ] Some day I will go to where he is, but he will not return to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba. Then he ◄slept/had sex► with her, and she became pregnant, and gave birth to another son. David named that son Solomon. Yahweh loved this little boy. 25 He told the prophet Nathan to tell David to name the baby boy Jedediah which means ‘loved by Yahweh’, because Yahweh loved him.
26 27 28
29 30 31

- 2 Samuel
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Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.

© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.