Excerpts from the History of King David
in the Second Book ofSamuel

Chapter 7: vs. 1-16

As soon as the king [David] was established in his house and the Lord had given him security from his enemies on all sides, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I live in a house of cedar, while the Ark of God is housed in curtains."  Nathan answered the king, "Very well, do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you."  But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:   "Go and say to David my servant, 'This is the word of the Lord:  Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in?  Down to this day I have never dwelt in a house since I brought Israel up from Egypt;  I made my journey in a tent and a tabernacle.  Wherever I journeyed with Israel, did I ever ask any of the judges whom I appointed shepherds of my people Israel why they had not built me a house of cedar?'

"Then say this to my servant David:  'This is the word of the Lord of Hosts:  I took you from the pastures, and from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel.  I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have destroyed all the enemies in your path.  I will make you a great name among the great ones of the earth.  I will assign a place for my people Israel;  there I will plant them and they shall dwell in their own land.  They shall be disturbed no more, never again shall wicked men oppress them as they did in the past, ever since the time when I appointed judges over Israel my people; and I will give you peace from all your enemies.  The Lord has told you that he would build up your royal house.  When your life ends and you rest with your forefathers, I will set up one of your family, one of your own children, to succeed you and I will establish his kingdom.  It is he shall build a house in honor of my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever.  I will be his father and he shall be my son.  When he does wrong, I will punish him as any father might, and not spare the rod.  My love will never be withdrawn from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from your path.  Your family shall be established and your kingdom shall stand for all time in my sight, and your throne shall be established forever.'"

Chapter 11

At the turn of the year, when kings take the field, David sent Joab out with other officers and all the Israelite forces, and they ravaged Ammon and laid siege to Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem.  One evening David got up from his couch and, as he walked about on the roof of the palace, he saw from there a woman bathing, and she was very beautiful.  He sent to inquire who she was, and the answer came, "It must be Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite."  So he sent messengers to fetch her, and when she came to him, he had intercourse with her. . .  She conceived, and sent word to David that she was pregnant.  David ordered Joab to send Uriah the Hittite to him.  So Joab sent him to David, and when he arrived, David asked him for news of Joab and the troops and how the campaign was going;  and then said to him, "Go down to your house and wash your feet after your journey."  As he left the palace, a present from the king followed him.  But Uriah did not return to his house; he lay down by the palace gate with the king's slaves.  David heard that Uriah had not gone home, and said to him, "You have had a long journey, why did you not go home?"  Uriah answered David, "Israel and Judah are under canvas [at war], and so is the Ark, and my lord Joab and your majesty's officers are camping in the open; how can I go home to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife?  By your life, I cannot do this!"  David then said to Uriah, "Stay here another day, and tomorrow I will let you go."  So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day.  The next day David invited him to eat and drink with him and made him drunk.  But in the evening Uriah went out to lie down in his blanket among the king's slaves and did not go home.

The following morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent Uriah with it.  He wrote in the letter, "Put Uriah opposite the enemy where the fighting is fiercest and then fall back, and leave him to meet his death."  Joab had been watching the city, and he stationed Uriah at a point where he knew they would put up a stout fight.  The men of the city sallied out and engaged Joab, and some of David's guards fell;  Uriah the Hittite was also killed.  Joab sent David a dispatch with all the news of the battle and gave the messenger these instructions:  "When you have finished your report to the king, if he is angry and asks, 'Why did you go so near the city during the fight?  You must have known there would be shooting from the wall.  Remember who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth.  It was a woman who threw down an upper millstone on to him from the wall of Thebez and killed him!  Why did you go so near the wall?' -- if he asks this, then tell him, "Your servant Uriah the Hittite also is dead.'"

So the messenger set out and, when he came to David, he made his report as Joab had instructed.  David was angry with Joab and said to the messenger, "Why did you go so near the city during the fight?  You must have known you would be struck down from the wall.  Remember who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth.  Was it not a woman who threw down an upper millstone onto him from the wall of Thebez and killed him?  Why did you go near the wall?"  He answered, "The enemy massed against us and sallied out into the open;  we pressed them back as far as the gateway.  There the archers shot down at us from the wall and some of your majesty's men fell; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."  David said the man, "Give Joab this message:  'Do not let this distress you--there is no knowing where the sword will strike; press home your attack on the city, and you will take it and raze it to the ground': and tell him to take heart."

When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him; and when the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his house.  She became his wife and bore him a son.  But what David had done was wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

Chapter 12:  vss. 1-14

The Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David, and when he entered his presence, he said to him, "There were once two men in the same city, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had large flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing of his own except one little ewe lamb.  He reared it himself, and it grew up in his home with own sons.  It ate from his dish, drank from his cup and nestled in his arms; it was like a daughter to him.  One day a traveller came to the rich man's house, and he, too mean to take something from his own flocks and herds to serve to his guest, took the poor man's lamb and served up that."  David was very angry, and burst out, "As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!  He shall pay for the lamb four times over, because he has done this and shown no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man.  This is the word of the Lord the God of Israel to you:  'I anointed you king over Israel, I rescued you from the power of Saul.  I gave you your master's daughter and his wives to be your own,  I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and, had this not been enough, I would have added other favors as great.  Why then have you flouted the word of the Lord by doing what is wrong in my eyes?  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; the man himself you murdered by the sword of the Ammonites, and you have stolen his wife.  Now, therefore, since you have despised me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife, your family shall never again have rest from the sword.'  This is the word of the Lord:  'I will bring trouble upon you from within you own family; I will take your wives and give them to another man before your eyes, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.  What you did was done in secret; but I will do this in the light of day for all Israel to see.'"  David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."  Nathan answered him, "The Lord has laid on another the consequences of your sin:  you shall not die, but, because in this you have shown your contempt for the Lord, the boy that will be born to you shall die."