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¹ And the Lord sent Nathan vnto Dauid, and he came vnto him, and tolde him: There were two men in one citie, the one rich, & the other poore.² The rich man had exceeding many sheepe and oxen:³ But the poore had nothing saue one litle sheepe, which he had bought and nouryshed vp: And it grew vp with him and with his children also, and did eate of his owne meate, and drancke of his owne cuppe, & slept in his bosome, and was vnto him as his daughter.⁴ And there came a straunger vnto the rich man, and he spared to take of his owne sheepe and of his owne oxen to dresse for ye straunger that was come vnto him: But toke the poore mans sheepe, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.⁵ And Dauid was exceeding wroth with the man, and saide to Nathan: As the Lorde lyueth, the man that hath done this thing is the childe of death.⁶ He shal restore the lambe foure folde, because he did this thyng and had no pitie.⁷ And Nathan saide to Dauid, Thou art the man: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel , I annoynted thee king ouer Israel, and ryd thee out of the hand of Saul.⁸ I gaue thee thy maisters house, and thy maisters wyues into thy bosome, and gaue thee the house of Israel and of Iuda, and might (if that had ben to litle) haue geuen thee so muche more.⁹ Wherefore then hast thou despised the commaundement of the Lorde to do euill in his sight? Thou hast kild Urias the Hethite with the sword, & hast taken his wyfe to thy wyfe, and hast slaine him with the sword of the children of Ammon.¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword shall neuer depart from thyne house, because thou hast despised me, and taken the wyfe of Urias the Hethite to be thy wyfe.¹¹ Wherefore thus saith the Lorde: Beholde, I will stirre vp euil against thee, euen out of thyne owne house, and wyll take thy wyues before thyne eyes, and geue them vnto thy neyghbour, and he shall lye with thy wyues in the sight of this sunne.¹² For thou diddest it secretly: but I wil do this thing before al Israel, and in the open sunne lyght.¹³ And Dauid saide vnto Nathan: I haue sinned against the Lord. And Nathan saide vnto Dauid: The Lord also hath put away thy sinne, thou shalt not dye.¹⁴ Howbeit, because in doing this deede thou hast geuen ye enemies of the Lord a cause to blaspheme, the childe that is borne vnto thee shall surely dye.

¹⁵ And Nathan departed vnto his house: And the Lorde strake the childe that Urias wyfe bare vnto Dauid, and it sickened sore.¹⁶ Dauid therefore besought God for the childe, and fasted, and went in, & laye all night vpon the earth.¹⁷ And the elders of his house arose and went to him, to take him vp from the earth: But he would not, neither did he eate meate with them.¹⁸ And the seuenth day the childe dyed, and the seruauntes of Dauid feared to tell him that the childe was dead: For they said, beholde, while the childe was yet alyue we spake vnto hym, and he would not hearke vnto our voyce: how will he then vexe him selfe, if we tell him that the childe is dead?¹⁹ But Dauid seing his seruautes whispering, perceaued that the childe was dead: & Dauid said vnto his seruauntes, Is the childe dead? They saide: He is dead.²⁰ And Dauid arose from the earth, and washed and annoynted him selfe, and chaunged his apparell, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: and afterward came to his owne house, & bad that they should set bread before him, and he dyd eate.²¹ Then said his seruauntes vnto him: What thing is this that thou hast done? Thou diddest fast & weepe for the childe while it was alyue, & assoone as it was dead, thou diddest ryse vp & eate meate.²² He said: While the childe was yet ailue I fasted and wept: for this I thought, Who can tell whether God wyll haue mercy on me, that the childe may lyue?²³ But now seeing it is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him againe any more? I shall go to him, rather then he shall come againe to me.²⁴ And Dauid comforted Bethsabe his wyfe, & went in vnto her and lay with her, and she bare a sonne, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loued him,²⁵ And had sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet: therefore he called his name Iedidia, of the Lordes behalfe.

²⁶ Then Ioab fought against Rabba of the children of Ammon, and toke the citie of the kingdome.²⁷ And Ioab sent messengers to Dauid, saying: I haue fought against Rabba, and haue taken the citie of waters.²⁸ Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and besiege the citie, that thou mayst take it: lest I take it, & it be called after my name.²⁹ And Dauid gathered al the people together, & went against Rabba, and besieged it, and toke it.³⁰ And he toke their kinges crowne from of his head (which wayed a talent of golde, & in it were precious stones) and it was set on Dauids head, and he brought away the spoyle of the citie, in exceeding great abundaunce.³¹ And he caryed away the people that was therein, & put them vnder sawes, and vnder iron harrowes, and vnder axes of iron, & thrust them into the tylekyll: thus dyd he with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And so Dauid and al the people returned vnto Hierusalem.