Atlas Biblica

    2 Samuel · 31 verses

    2 Samuel 12

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    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    David fasts for a living child, then washes, worships, and eats when the child is dead.

    The lamb and the kingvv. 1–14

    Nathan brings David a little story with one small ewe lamb, cherished like a daughter, and a rich man who takes it for a single guest. David delivers a sentence with impressive speed: fourfold repayment, and death besides. Nathan then turns the story round upon him: David has taken Uriah’s wife and sent Uriah to the sword, so the sword is now to remain in his house. David says, simply, “I have sinned against the LORD.” The sin is taken away, but the child will die.

    A timetable no servant can followvv. 15–25

    The child becomes ill, and David fasts, lies on sackcloth, and refuses food while the child lives. On the seventh day the child dies; the servants whisper about how to tell him, which is a very poor omen for the announcement. David notices, asks, and then changes everything: he rises, washes, worships, and eats. He explains that prayer belonged to the time when the child might live. Afterwards David comforts Bathsheba, and their son is named Solomon; Nathan is sent with another name, Jedidiah, because the LORD loved him.

    Joab wants the name on the cityvv. 26–31

    Meanwhile, Joab has taken Rabbah’s water supply and captured its royal fortress, but he sends David a message with a remarkably personal reason to finish the business: otherwise the city will be named after Joab. David gathers the troops, captures Rabbah, takes its king’s crown, and carries away much plunder. The people are put to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, including at the brick kilns; then David and the troops return to Jerusalem.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 2 Sam 12:1Then 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.

    2. 2 Sam 12:2The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,

    3. 2 Sam 12:3but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him.

    4. 2 Sam 12:4Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.”

    5. 2 Sam 12:5David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

    6. 2 Sam 12:6Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

    7. 2 Sam 12:7Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

    8. 2 Sam 12:8I 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.

    9. 2 Sam 12:9Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

    10. 2 Sam 12:10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

    11. 2 Sam 12:11This 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.

    12. 2 Sam 12:12You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

    13. 2 Sam 12:13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

    14. 2 Sam 12:14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”

    15. 2 Sam 12:15After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

    16. 2 Sam 12:16David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.

    17. 2 Sam 12:17The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

    18. 2 Sam 12:18On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.”

    19. 2 Sam 12:19When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied.

    20. 2 Sam 12:20Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

    21. 2 Sam 12:21“What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”

    22. 2 Sam 12:22David 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.’

    23. 2 Sam 12:23But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

    24. 2 Sam 12:24Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child

    25. 2 Sam 12:25and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah because the LORD loved him.

    26. 2 Sam 12:26Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.

    27. 2 Sam 12:27Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.

    28. 2 Sam 12:28Now, therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

    29. 2 Sam 12:29So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; and he fought against it and captured it.

    30. 2 Sam 12:30Then he took the crown from the head of their king. It weighed 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.

    31. 2 Sam 12:31David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 233 passages were voted onto 29 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 13Proverbs 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
    • 132 Samuel 24:10After 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.”
    • 13Psalms 51:4Against 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.
    • 13Zechariah 3:4So 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.”
    • 112 Samuel 16:21–22Ahithophel 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.”
    • 13Luke 15:21The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
    • 13Micah 7:18–19Who 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?
    • 6Exodus 22:1“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.
    • 131 Samuel 15:30“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”
    • 14Romans 2:24As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
    • 13Leviticus 20:10If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
    • 20Job 1:20Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
    • 8Psalms 84:11For 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.
    • 11Deuteronomy 28:30You 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.
    • 162 Samuel 13:31Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
    • 13Lamentations 3:32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.

    Onward

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    Next chapter2 Samuel 1339 verses.Named hereAmmonEverything the graph connects to this name.Book2 SamuelAll 24 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.