2 Samuel 12

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

³⁵Meanwhile, by the word of the Lord, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him.

³⁶Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.

⁷When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.

⁸One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

¹I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!

¹Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord.

¹¹Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.

¹²The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

²And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;

³his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

³and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

¹³After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

¹⁴These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

¹⁶Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

⁵Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

³So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

⁶If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,

¹⁸May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

¹⁹A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

¹⁴But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

³So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

⁴Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

²And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”

¹You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

¹⁶This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the Lord lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the Lord’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”

⁴¹Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?

⁴²How can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

²¹Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

²²May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

¹“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”

¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴When He stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹³So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

¹And David sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

²¹“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”

⁴⁹who frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my foes; You rescue me from violent men.

⁸Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

⁷“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

¹¹This is what the Lord says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁴Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

¹⁹So why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

⁸You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

⁴This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the Lord and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.

¹⁰and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”

¹⁴But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.

¹⁵And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

⁴Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

²⁸Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

²⁹So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.

³One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

⁸Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.

²¹Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

³⁰You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.

¹After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.

²Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

¹⁰Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”

²⁸Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

²⁹So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.

⁶Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

¹In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known.

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

⁴Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

⁵And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

¹³He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

¹⁰After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

⁴So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

⁴Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

¹⁸Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

¹Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

²Blessed is the man whose iniquity the Lord does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

²⁴As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

⁵And now what have I here? declares the Lord. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the Lord, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.

³¹if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments,

³²I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

¹¹My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke;

¹²for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.

²⁹When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

³⁹See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

¹⁰David added, “As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

⁵And the Lord afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

²³Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

³¹Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

¹⁶“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

²⁷When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.

²²David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’

¹²On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

³⁵Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”

²³Saul refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But his servants joined the woman in urging him, and he heeded their voice. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

¹⁵how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,

²⁰Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

³Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.

³⁹Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the Lord.

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

⁸Let your garments always be white, and never spare the oil for your head.

¹⁸Then King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

¹⁵The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.

⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

¹In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

¹⁴Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

⁶The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁴Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him—grain and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

²³Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

⁴³And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

⁸The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

⁶and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

⁵And of all my sons—for the Lord has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

⁶And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father.

¹Then King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great because this palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.

⁹But a son will be born to you who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name will be Solomon, and I will grant to Israel peace and quiet during his reign.

¹⁰He is the one who will build a house for My Name. He will be My son, and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

¹²And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

⁵and these sons were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. These four were born to him by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel.

⁴But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

²⁶Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

¹¹Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it?

²³So the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And Nathan went in and bowed facedown before the king.

¹Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

²The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,

¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

²Then David took the crown from the head of their king. It was found to weigh a talent of gold and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on David’s head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

²⁵Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

²⁰Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

¹⁸He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood.

²Then David took the crown from the head of their king. It was found to weigh a talent of gold and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on David’s head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

³David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. And he did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

³This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.

²David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.

⁸Your hand will apprehend all Your enemies; Your right hand will seize those who hate You.

⁹You will place them in a fiery furnace at the time of Your appearing. In His wrath the Lord will engulf them, and the fire will consume them.