10. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be thy wife.
11. Thus hath the Lord said, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12. For thou hast done it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.
13. Then David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also has taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14. However, because by this deed, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme; the son that is born unto thee shall surely die.
15. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had given birth unto David, and it was very sick.
16. David, therefore, besought God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth.
17. And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth, but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. And the slaves of David feared to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice; how much more will it trouble him if we tell him that the child is dead?
19. But when David saw that his slaves whispered, David understood that the child was dead; therefore, David said unto his slaves, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20. Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he came to his own house; and when he asked, they set bread before him, and he ate.
21. Then his slaves said unto him, What is this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
22. And he replied, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will have mercy on me, that the child may live?
23. But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.