2 Samuel 12:7-23

7Nathan then said to David, “1You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘2It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8I also gave you 3your master’s house and your master’s wives into your 4care, 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 5have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? 6You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, 7have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10Now therefore, 8the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; 9I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in 10broad daylight. 12Indeed 11you did it secretly, but 12I will do this thing before all Israel, and 13under the sun.’” 13Then David said to Nathan, “14I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has 1516taken away your sin; you shall not die. 14However, because by this deed you have 17given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 15So Nathan went to his house.

Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s 18widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David 19fasted and went and 20lay all night on the ground. 1721The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise 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 the servants of David 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 our voice. 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 arose from the ground, 22washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and 23worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.

21Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? 24While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22He said, “While the child was still alive, 25I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘26Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ 23But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? 27I will go to him, but 28he will not return to me.”