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¹Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, “There were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor.

²The wealthy man had a great many flocks and herds.

³But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nurtured; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat scraps from him and drink from his cup and lie in his lap, And was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a visitor came to the wealthy man, And he could not bring himself to take any animal from his own flock or his own herd, 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.”

⁵Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this certainly deserves to die!

⁶So he must make restitution for the lamb four times over, since he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷Nathan then said to David, “You yourself are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘It is I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it is I who rescued you from the hand of Saul.

⁸I also gave you your master’s house and put your master’s wives into your care, 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!

⁹Why have you despised the word of the LORD, by doing evil in His sight? You have struck and killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife as your wife, and you have slaughtered him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁰Now then, the sword shall never leave your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.

¹²Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in open daylight.’ ”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die.

¹⁴However, since by this deed you have shown utter disrespect for the LORD, the child himself who is born to you shall certainly die.”

¹⁵Then Nathan went to his house. L ater the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

¹⁶David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.

¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him in order to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.

¹⁸Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to us. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm?”

¹⁹But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”

²⁰So David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and when he asked, they served him food, and he ate.

²¹Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.”

²²And he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’

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

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and slept with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him,

²⁵and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD’S sake.

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

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

²⁸Now then, gather the rest of the people and camp opposite the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.”

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

³⁰Then he took the crown of their king from his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and it had a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the plunder of the city in great amounts.

³¹He also brought out the people who were in it, and put some to work at saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and made others serve at the brick works. And he did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

¹Now it was after this that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David was in love with her.

²But Amnon was so frustrated on account of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it seemed too difficult to Amnon to do anything to her.

³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very clever man.

⁴And he said to him, “Why are you, the king’s son, so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”

⁵Jonadab then said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please have my sister Tamar come and give me food to eat, and have her prepare the food in my sight, so that I may see it and eat from her hand.’ ”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please have my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of pastries in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷Then David sent a messenger to the house for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.”

⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was lying in bed. And she took dough, kneaded it, made pastries in his sight, and baked the pastries.

⁹Then she took the tray and served them to him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me.” So everyone left him.

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the pastries which she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon.

¹¹When she brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, sleep with me, my sister.”

¹²But she said to him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful sin!

¹³As for me, where could I get rid of my shame? And as for you, you will be like one of the fools in Israel. Now then, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

¹⁴However, he would not listen to her; since he was stronger than she, he violated her and slept with her.

¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; indeed, the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!”

¹⁶But she said to him, “No, because this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you have done to me!” Yet he would not listen to her.

¹⁷Then he called his young man who attended him and said, “Now throw this woman out of my presence, and lock the door behind her!”

¹⁸Now she had on a long-sleeved garment; for this is how the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then his attendant took her out and locked the door behind her.

¹⁹Tamar took ashes and put them on her head, and tore her long-sleeved garment which was on her; and she put her hand on her head and went on her way, crying out as she went.

²⁰Then Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now keep silent, my sister, he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained and was isolated in her brother Absalom’s house.

²¹Now when King David heard about all these matters, he became very angry.

²²But Absalom did not speak with Amnon either good or bad; for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.

²³Now it came about after two full years that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons to celebrate.

²⁴And Absalom came to the king and said, “Behold now, your servant has sheepshearers; may the king and his servants please go with your servant.”

²⁵But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, we should not all go, so that we will not be a burden to you.” Though he urged him, he would not go; but he blessed him.

²⁶Then Absalom said, “If not, please have my brother Amnon go with us.” But the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?”

²⁷Nevertheless Absalom urged him, so he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.

²⁸Then Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “See now, when Amnon’s heart is cheerful with wine, and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then put him to death. Do not fear; have I not commanded you myself? Be courageous and be valiant.”

²⁹And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons got up and each mounted his mule and fled.

³⁰Now it was while they were on the way that the report came to David, saying, “Absalom has struck and killed all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left.”

³¹Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay on the ground; and all his servants were standing by with clothes torn.

³²And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, responded, “Let my lord not assume that they have put to death all the young men, the king’s sons, for only Amnon is dead; because this has been set up by the intent of Absalom since the day that he violated his sister Tamar.

³³So now, may my lord the king not take the report to heart, claiming, ‘all the king’s sons are dead’; but only Amnon is dead.”

³⁴Now Absalom had fled. And the young man who was the watchman raised his eyes and looked, and behold, many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain.

³⁵And Jonadab said to the king, “Behold, the king’s sons have come; so it has happened according to your servant’s word.”

³⁶As soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king’s sons came and raised their voices and wept; and the king and all his servants also wept very profusely.

³⁷Now Absalom had fled and gone to Talmai the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.

³⁸So Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, and was there for three years.

³⁹And the heart of King David longed to go out to Absalom; for he was comforted regarding Amnon, since he was dead.