1. The Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a city. One man was rich, but the other was poor.
2. The rich man had very many sheep and cattle.
3. But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb he had bought. The poor man fed the lamb. It grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup. It slept in his arms. The lamb was like a daughter to him.
4. “Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to give food to the traveler. But he didn’t want to take one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler. Instead, he took the lamb from the poor man. The rich man killed the lamb and cooked it for his visitor.”
5. David became very angry at the rich man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this should die!
6. He must pay for the lamb four times for doing such a thing. He had no mercy!”
7. Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I appointed you king of Israel. I saved you from Saul.
8. I gave you his kingdom and his wives. And I made you king of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you even more.