16. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.
17. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, ‘While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.’
19. David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realised that the child was dead. ‘Is the child dead?’ he asked.‘Yes,’ they replied, ‘he is dead.’