1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many sheep and cows, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children; it ate of his own food and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And a traveller came unto the rich man, who did not wish to take of his own sheep and of his own cows to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man that had come to him. 5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the LORD lives, the man that has done this thing is worthy of death, 6 and he shall pay for the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.
7 Then Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus hath said the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, 8 and I gave thee thy master’s house and thy master’s wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that is too little, I shall add unto thee such and such things. 9 Why, therefore, hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah, the Hittite, with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife and hast slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be thy wife. 11 Thus hath the LORD said, 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 unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou hast done it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 13 Then David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also has taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 However, because by this deed, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme; the son that is born unto thee shall surely die.