but the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and kept and reared; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate from his bread and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom, and it was to him like a daughter.
And a traveller came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flocks and from his own herds to prepare for the stranger, the wayfarer who had come to him; and he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."
And Nathan said to David, "You are the man who did this. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'It was I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it was I who rescued you from the hand of Saul.
And I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that is too little, I will add to you the like of these.
Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you took his wife for yourself as a wife, and you killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.
Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I am raising up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
And it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died, for they said, "Look, while the child was still alive we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice; how then can we say to him that the child has died? He will do harm."
And David perceived that his servants were whispering, and David understood that the child had died. And David said to his servants, "Has the child died?" And they said, "He has died."
And David rose from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of God and worshipped him. Then he came into his own house and asked for bread to eat, and they set bread before him, and he ate.
And his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? For the sake of the child, while he was still alive, you fasted and wept and kept awake; but when the child died, you rose and ate bread and drank."
And David said, "While the child was still alive I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the Lord will have mercy on me and the child will live?'
And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and he went in to her and lay with her; and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him,
And he took the crown of Melchol their king from his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, with a precious stone; and it was on David's head. And he carried off very much spoil from the city.
And he brought out the people who were in it and put them to the saw and to the iron harrows, and he made them pass through the brick-kiln. And so he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.