Information Retrieved -> 2 Samuel 11 - 12(NLT)

Book Chapter Verse Text
2 Samuel 11 1 The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to destroy the Ammonites. In the process they laid siege to the city of Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 11 2 Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.
2 Samuel 11 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."
2 Samuel 11 4 Then David sent for her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. (She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period.) Then she returned home.
2 Samuel 11 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent a message to inform David.
2 Samuel 11 6 So David sent word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite."
2 Samuel 11 7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing.
2 Samuel 11 8 Then he told Uriah, "Go on home and relax." David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace.
2 Samuel 11 9 But Uriah wouldn't go home. He stayed that night at the palace entrance with some of the king's other servants.
2 Samuel 11 10 When David heard what Uriah had done, he summoned him and asked, "What's the matter with you? Why didn't you go home last night after being away for so long?"
2 Samuel 11 11 Uriah replied, "The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and his officers are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I will never be guilty of acting like that."
2 Samuel 11 12 "Well, stay here tonight," David told him, "and tomorrow you may return to the army." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
2 Samuel 11 13 Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn't get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance.
2 Samuel 11 14 So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver.
2 Samuel 11 15 The letter instructed Joab, "Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed."
2 Samuel 11 16 So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy's strongest men were fighting.
2 Samuel 11 17 And Uriah was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
2 Samuel 11 18 Then Joab sent a battle report to David.
2 Samuel 11 19 He told his messenger, "Report all the news of the battle to the king.
2 Samuel 11 20 But he might get angry and ask, `Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn't they know there would be shooting from the walls?
2 Samuel 11 21 Wasn't Gideon's son Abimelech killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him?' Then tell him, `Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.'"
2 Samuel 11 22 So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David.
2 Samuel 11 23 "The enemy came out against us," he said. "And as we chased them back to the city gates,
2 Samuel 11 24 the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of our men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite."
2 Samuel 11 25 "Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged," David said. "The sword kills one as well as another! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!"
2 Samuel 11 26 When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
2 Samuel 11 27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was very displeased with what David had done.
2 Samuel 12 1 So the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: "There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor.
2 Samuel 12 2 The rich man owned many sheep and cattle.
2 Samuel 12 3 The poor man owned nothing but a little lamb he had worked hard to buy. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter.
2 Samuel 12 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing a lamb from his own flocks for food, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and served it to his guest."
2 Samuel 12 5 David was furious. "As surely as the LORD lives," he vowed, "any man who would do such a thing deserves to die!
2 Samuel 12 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity."
2 Samuel 12 7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are that man! The LORD, the God of Israel, says, `I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul.
2 Samuel 12 8 I gave you his house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.
2 Samuel 12 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah and stolen his wife.
2 Samuel 12 10 From this time on, the sword will be a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking Uriah's wife to be your own.
2 Samuel 12 11 " `Because of what you have done, I, the LORD, will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man, and he will go to bed with them in public view.
2 Samuel 12 12 You did it secretly, but I will do this to you openly in the sight of all Israel.'"
2 Samuel 12 13 Then David confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "Yes, but the LORD has forgiven you, and you won't die for this sin.
2 Samuel 12 14 But you have given the enemies of the LORD great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die."
2 Samuel 12 15 After Nathan returned to his home, the LORD made Bathsheba's baby deathly ill.
2 Samuel 12 16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground.
2 Samuel 12 17 The leaders of the nation pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
2 Samuel 12 18 Then on the seventh day the baby died. David's advisers were afraid to tell him. "He was so broken up about the baby being sick," they said. "What will he do to himself when we tell him the child is dead?"
2 Samuel 12 19 But when David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. "Is the baby dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied.
2 Samuel 12 20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the LORD. After that, he returned to the palace and ate.
2 Samuel 12 21 His advisers were amazed. "We don't understand you," they told him. "While the baby was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the baby is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again."
2 Samuel 12 22 David replied, "I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, `Perhaps the LORD will be gracious to me and let the child live.'
2 Samuel 12 23 But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me."
2 Samuel 12 24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved the child
2 Samuel 12 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that his name should be Jedidiah--"beloved of the LORD"--because the LORD loved him.
2 Samuel 12 26 Meanwhile, Joab and the Israelite army were successfully ending their siege of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon.
2 Samuel 12 27 Joab sent messengers to tell David, "I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply.
2 Samuel 12 28 Now bring the rest of the army and finish the job, so you will get credit for the victory instead of me."
2 Samuel 12 29 So David led the rest of his army to Rabbah and captured it.
2 Samuel 12 30 David removed the crown from the king's head, and it was placed on David's own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed about seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city.
2 Samuel 12 31 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with saws, picks, and axes, and to work in the brick kilns. That is how he dealt with the people of all the Ammonite cities. Then David and his army returned to Jerusalem.
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