1. The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, he said, “There were two men in a city. One was rich, but the other was poor.
2. The rich man had 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, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup and 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 feed the traveler, but he didn’t want to take one of his own sheep or cattle. Instead, he took the lamb from the poor man 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 and 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.
9. So why did you ignore the Lord’s command? Why did you do what he says is wrong? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and took his wife to be your wife!