11. Someone from your own family will cause you a lot of trouble, and I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes. He will go to bed with them while everyone looks on.
12. What you did was in secret, but I will do this in the open for everyone in Israel to see.”
13-14. David said, “I have disobeyed the Lord.”“Yes, you have!” Nathan answered. “You showed you didn't care what the Lord wanted. He has forgiven you, and you won't die. But your newborn son will.”
15. Then Nathan went back home.The Lord made David's young son very sick.
16. So David went without eating to show his sorrow, and he begged God to make the boy well. David would not sleep on his bed, but spent each night lying on the floor.
17. His officials stood beside him and tried to talk him into getting up. But he would not get up or eat with them.
18. After the child had been sick for seven days, he died, but the officials were afraid to tell David. They said to each other, “Even when the boy was alive, David wouldn't listen to us. How can we tell him his son is dead? He might do something terrible!”
19. David noticed his servants whispering, and he knew the boy was dead. “Has my son died?” he asked his servants.“Yes, he has,” they answered.
20. David got up off the floor; he took a bath, combed his hair, and dressed. He went into the Lord's tent and worshipped, then he went back home. David asked for something to eat, and when his servants brought him some food, he ate it.
21. His officials said, “What are you doing? You went without eating and cried for your son while he was alive! But now that he's dead, you're up and eating.”