13. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”
15. Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had born for David, and he became sick.
16. David entreated God on behalf of the child. He fasted for a period, and he would go in and lie throughout the night on the ground.
17. The elders of his house stood beside him to rouse him from the ground, but he was not willing, nor would he consume food with them.
18. The child died on the seventh day, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child had died. They said, “When the child was alive, we would speak to him, but he would not acknowledge our voices. Now how can we say to him, ‘The child is dead’? He may do harm.”
19. When David noticed that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”They said, “He is dead.”