5. David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!
6. He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’
7. Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.”
11. ‘This is what the Lord says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.
12. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.” ’
13. Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
14. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.’
15. After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
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.’