Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options

2 Samuel 12:11-19
New English Translation

11 This is what the Lord has said: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you[a] from inside your own household![b] Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.[c] He will go to bed with[d] your wives in broad daylight![e] 12 Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”[f]

13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven[g] your sin. You are not going to die. 14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt[h] in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

15 Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill.[i] 16 Then David prayed to[j] God for the child and fasted.[k] He would even[l] go and spend the night lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.

18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us[m] when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!”[n]

19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he[o] realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 12:11 tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”
  2. 2 Samuel 12:11 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”
  3. 2 Samuel 12:11 tn Or “friend.”
  4. 2 Samuel 12:11 tn Heb “will lie down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) “to lie down” can be a euphemism for going to bed for sexual relations.
  5. 2 Samuel 12:11 tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”
  6. 2 Samuel 12:12 tn Heb “and before the sun.”
  7. 2 Samuel 12:13 tn Heb “removed.”
  8. 2 Samuel 12:14 tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”
  9. 2 Samuel 12:15 tn Heb “and the Lord struck the child…and he was ill.” It is necessary to repeat “the child” in the translation to make clear who became ill, since “the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became very ill” could be understood to mean that David himself became ill.
  10. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
  11. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
  12. 2 Samuel 12:16 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.
  13. 2 Samuel 12:18 tn Heb “to our voice.”
  14. 2 Samuel 12:18 tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!
  15. 2 Samuel 12:19 tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
Next
2 Samuel 11
2 Samuel 13
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.