16. David prayed to God for the baby. David refused to eat or drink. He went into his house and stayed there and lay on the ground all night.
17. The leaders of David’s family came and tried to pull David up from the ground, but he refused to get up. He refused to eat with these leaders.
18. On the seventh day the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell David that the baby is dead, he might do something bad to himself.”
19. David saw his servants whispering and understood that the baby was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?” The servants answered, “Yes, he is dead.”
20. Then David got up from the floor. He washed himself. He changed his clothes and got dressed. Then he went into the Lord’S house to worship. After that he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.
21. David’s servants asked him, “Why are you doing this? When the baby was alive, you cried and refused to eat. But when the baby died you got up and ate food.”
22. David said, “While the baby was still living, I cried and refused to eat because I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’
23. But now the baby is dead, so why should I refuse to eat? Can I bring the baby back to life? No. Some day I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”
24. Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife. He slept with her and had sexual relations with her. Bathsheba became pregnant again and had another son. David named the boy Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon
25. and sent word for Nathan the prophet to give Solomon the name Jedidiah. So Nathan did this for the Lord.
26. Rabbah was the capital city of the Ammonites. Joab fought against Rabbah and captured it.
27. Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured its water supply.
28. Now bring the rest of the army together and attack Rabbah. Capture this city before I do, or else it will be called by my name.”
29. So David gathered all the soldiers together and went to Rabbah. He fought against Rabbah and captured the city.
30. David took the crown off their king’s head. The crown was gold and weighed about 75 pounds. This crown had precious stones in it. They put the crown on David’s head. David took many valuable things out of the city.
31. David also brought out the people of the city of Rabbah and made them work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also forced them to build things with bricks. He did the same thing to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the army went back to Jerusalem.