The Daily Audio Bible

Nathan Confronts David

12 Then Adonai sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one was rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had an exceedingly huge flock and herd, ³ but the poor man had nothing at all, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished, and it grew up together with him and his children. It ate from his own morsel and drank from his own cup, and nestled in his bosom, and it was to him like a daughter. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, but he was unwilling to take one from his own flock or herd to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Rather, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man that had come to him.”

⁵ Then David’s anger blazed hot against the man and he said to Nathan, “As Adonai lives, the man that did this deserves to die! ⁶ So he must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did such a thing and showed no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: It is I who anointed you king over Israel, and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. Now if that were too little, then I would have added to you so much more. ⁹ Why then have you despised the word of Adonai by doing such evil in My eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to be your wife, and him you have slain with the sword of the children of Ammon ¹⁰ So now the sword will never depart from your house—because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

¹¹ “Thus says Adonai: Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹² Indeed you have done it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and under the sun.”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Adonai.”

Nathan replied to David, “Adonai also has made your sin pass away—you will not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have made the enemies of Adonai greatly blaspheme, so even the child born to you will surely die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went to his house.

Then Adonai struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and he became very sick. ¹⁶ David therefore sought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the floor. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him in order to get him up from the floor but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. So how can we tell him that the child is dead? He might do something terrible!”

¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”

“He is dead,” they said.

²⁰ Then David got up from the floor, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the House of Adonai and worshipped. When he came back to his own palace, he asked for food, so they set food before him and he ate.

²¹ His servants asked him, “What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept while the child was still alive, but as soon as the child died, you got up and ate food.”

²² He replied, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I thought, ‘Who knows? Adonai might be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ²³ But now that he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? It is I who will be going to him, but he will never return to me.”

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and lay with her, and she bore a son and called his name Solomon. Adonai loved him, ²⁵ and He sent word by the hand of the prophet Nathan. So he called his name Jedidiah^[a], for Adonai’s sake.

²⁶ Now Joab attacked Rabbah of the children of Ammon and captured the royal city. ²⁷ So Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have attacked Rabbah and captured the city’s water supply. ²⁸ So now gather the rest of the troops together, camp against the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the troops, went to Rabbah, attacked it and captured it. ³⁰ Then he took the crown of their king from off his head—its weight was a talent of gold and in it was a precious stone—and then it was placed on David’s head. He also brought a vast amount of spoils out of the city. ³¹ Then he brought out the people who were there and put them to work under saws, iron threshing boards and iron axes, and assigned them to brick making; and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.

16 “I have spoken these things to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. ² They will throw you out of the synagogues. Yes, an hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ They will do these things because they have never known the Father or Me. ⁴ But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.”

The Ruach Reveals Truth

⁵ “But now I am going to the One who sent Me, and not one of you is asking Me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Because I have spoken these things to you, grief has filled your heart. ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away! For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

⁸ “When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹² “I still have much more to tell you, but you cannot handle it just now. ¹³ But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; but whatever He hears, He will tell you. And He will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is Mine. For this reason I said the Ruach will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.”

Death and Resurrection Foretold

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again in a little while, you will see Me.”

¹⁷ Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What does He mean by telling us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again in a little while, you will see Me’? And, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”

¹⁸ They kept on saying, “What’s this He’s saying, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what He’s talking about!”

¹⁹ Yeshua knew that they wanted to question Him, so He said to them, “Are you asking each other about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again in a little while, you will see Me’? ²⁰ Amen, amen I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will celebrate. You will be filled with sorrow, but your sorrow will turn to joy!

²¹ “When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come.^[a] But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you!

²³ “In that day, you will ask Me nothing. Amen, amen I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ²⁴ Up to now, you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you in metaphors. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in metaphors, but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day, you will ask in My name—and I’m not telling you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸ I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples say, “See, now You’re speaking plainly and not in metaphors. ³⁰ Now we know that You know everything and have no need to be asked anything. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

³¹ Yeshua answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Look, the hour is coming—indeed has come—when you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will abandon Me. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have shalom. In the world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world!”

TET ט

YOD י