¹Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

²The rich man had flock and cattle, very many.

³But the poor man had nothing at all, except one small ewe-lamb that he had acquired; he kept it alive, and it grew up with him and with his sons together; it ate from his morsel, drank from his cup, lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter.

⁴A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared himself from taking from his own flock and his own cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him; so he took the poor man's ewe-lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

⁵The anger of David burned exceedingly against the man, and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

⁶And the ewe he will repay fourfold, because he made this word, and over which he did not spare.

⁷Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul;

⁸and I gave you the house of your lord, and the wives of your lord into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that was too little, I would add to you like these, and like these.

⁹Why have you despised the word of Yahweh, by doing the evil in my eyes? Uriah the Hittite you struck down with the sword, and his wife you took for yourself as a wife, and him you killed with the sword of the children of Ammon.

¹⁰And now the sword will not depart from your house forever, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

¹¹Thus says Yahweh: Here I am raising up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and I will give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives before the eyes of this sun.

¹²For you acted in secret, but I will do this word before all Israel and before the sun.

¹³David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh. Nathan said to David, Yahweh also has passed over your sin; you will not die.

¹⁴Nevertheless, because by this word you have utterly scorned the enemies of Yahweh, the son born to you, too, will surely die.

¹⁵Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore to David, and it fell sick.

¹⁶David sought God on behalf of the boy, and David fasted a fast; he went in, spent the night, and lay down in sackcloth on the land.

¹⁷The elders of his house stood over him to raise him up from the land, but he was not willing, and he did not eat food with them.

¹⁸It happened on the seventh day that the child died; and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, Look, while the child was alive we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice; how can we say to him, The child has died? He will do something bad.

¹⁹David saw that his servants were whispering together, and David understood that the child was dead. David said to his servants, Has the child died? They said, He has died.

²⁰David rose from the land and bathed, anointed himself, and changed his garments; he went into the house of Yahweh and bowed down. Then he went to his own house and asked, and they set food before him, and he ate.

²¹His servants said to him, What is this word that you have done? On account of the child, while he was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you rose and ate food.

²²He said, While the child was still alive I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows? Yahweh may show me favor, and the child may live.

²³But now he has died; why then should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.

²⁴David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and he went in to her and lay with her; she bore a son, and she called his name Solomon; and Yahweh loved him.

²⁵He sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, for the sake of Yahweh.

²⁶Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and captured the royal city.

²⁷Joab sent messengers to David and said, I have fought against Rabbah; I have also captured the city of the waters.

²⁸And now gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city and capture it; lest I myself capture the city, and my name be called over it.

²⁹David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, and fought against it and captured it.

³⁰He took the crown of their king from off his head — its weight was a talent of gold, with a precious stone — and it was on the head of David; and he brought out the plunder of the city, an exceedingly great amount.

³¹He brought out the people who were in it and set them at the saws, and at the iron cutting tools, and at the iron axes, and made them pass through the brick mold; and so he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.