Part 187 (1/2)

11:24. And the archers shot their arrows at thy servants from off the wall above: and some of the king's servants are slain, and thy servant Urias the Hethite is also dead.

11:25. And David said to the messenger: Thus shalt thou say to Joab: Let not this thing discourage thee: for various is the event of war: and sometimes one, sometimes another is consumed by the sword: encourage thy warriors against the city, and exhort them that thou mayest overthrow it.

11:26. And the wife of Urias heard that Urias her husband was dead, and she mourned for him.

11:27. And the mourning being over, David sent and brought her into his house, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son: and this thing which David had done, was displeasing to the Lord.

2 Kings Chapter 12

Nathan's parable. David confesseth his sin, and is forgiven: yet so as to be sentenced to most severe temporal punishments. The death of the child. The birth of Solomon. The taking of Rabbath.

12:1. And the Lord sent Nathan to David: and when he was come to him, he said to him: There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.

12:2. The rich man had exceeding many sheep and oxen.

12:3. But the poor man had nothing at all but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and which had grown up in his house together with his children, eating of his bread, and drinking of his cup, and sleeping in his bosom: and it was unto him as a daughter.

12:4. And when a certain stranger was come to the rich man, he spared to take of his own sheep and oxen, to make a feast for that stranger, who was come to him, but took the poor man's ewe, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

12:5. And David's anger being exceedingly kindled against that man, he said to Nathan: As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this is a child of death.

12:6. He shall restore the ewe fourfold, because he did this thing, and had no pity.

12:7. And Nathan said to David: Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord the G.o.d of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul,

12:8. And gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Juda: and if these things be little, I shall add far greater things unto thee.

12:9. Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

12:10. Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hethite to be thy wife.

12:11. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them to thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

I will raise, etc... All these evils, inasmuch as they were punishments, came upon David by a just judgment of G.o.d, for his sin, and therefore G.o.d says, I will raise, etc.; but inasmuch as they were sins, on the part of Absalom and his a.s.sociates, G.o.d was not the author of them, but only permitted them.

12:12. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.

12:13. And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die.

12:14. Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee, shall surely die.

12:15. And Nathan returned to his house. The Lord also struck the child which the wife of Urias had borne to David, and his life was despaired of.

12:16. And David besought the Lord for the child: and David kept a fast, and going in by himself lay upon the ground.

12:17. And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.

12:18. And it came to pa.s.s on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David feared to tell him, that the child was dead. For they said: Behold when the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hearken to our voice: how much more will he afflict himself if we tell him that the child is dead?

12:19. But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? They answered him He is dead.