THE ORIGINAL BIBLE for Modern Readers
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"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path." - Psalm 119:105
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2 SAMUEL chapter
1
2
3
4
5
6
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8
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11
12
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14
15
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19
20
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1 Jehovah sent Nathan to David. He came to him,
and said to him, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other
poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor
man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It
grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank
of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. 4 A
traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of
his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took
the poor man’s lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 David’s anger burned hot against the man, and
he said to Nathan, “As Jehovah lives, the man who has done this deserves to
die! 6 He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity!”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is
what Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house,
and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and
of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you
many more such things. 9 Why have you despised Jehovah’s word, to do that
which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword,
and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of
the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from
your house, because you have despised me, and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s
wife to be your wife.’
11 “This is what Jehovah says: ‘Behold, I will
raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives
before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your
wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did this secretly, but I will
do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Jehovah.”
Nathan said to David, “Jehovah also has put away your
sin. You will not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given
great occasion to Jehovah’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to
you will surely die.” 15 Nathan departed to his house.
Jehovah struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to
David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore begged God for the child;
and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the ground. 17 The
elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he
would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the
child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead,
for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he
didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that
the child is dead?”
19 But when David saw that his servants were
whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to
his servants, “Is the child dead?”
They said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed,
and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Jehovah’s
house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested,
they set bread before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him,
“What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he
was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I
fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Jehovah will not be gracious to
me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now 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 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went
in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Jehovah
loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named
him Jedidiah, for Jehovah’s sake.
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children
of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David, and
said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now
therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city,
and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called by my name.”
29 David gathered all the people together, and
went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30 He took the crown
of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were
precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of
plunder out of the city. 31 He brought out the people who were in it, and
put them to work with saws, with iron picks, with axes of iron, and made them
pass through the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of
Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
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