2 Samuel 12:16

16 David prayed to God on behalf of the child; David fasted, then came and lay all night on the ground.

2 Samuel 12:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:16

David therefore besought God for the child
Perhaps went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark, and prayed to the Lord to restore the child, and spare its life; for though the Lord had said it should die, he might hope that that was a conditional threatening, and that the Lord might be gracious and reverse it, ( 2 Samuel 12:22 ) ;

and David fasted:
all that day:

and went in;
to his own house from the house of God:

and lay all night upon the earth;
would neither go into, nor lie upon a bed, but lay on the floor all night, weeping and praying for the child's life, and especially for its eternal welfare: he having through sin been the means of its coming into a sinful and afflicted state.

2 Samuel 12:16 In-Context

14 However, because by this act you have so greatly blasphemed ADONAI, the child born to you must die."

15 Then Natan returned to his house. ADONAI struck the child that Uriyah's wife had borne to David, and it became very ill.

16 David prayed to God on behalf of the child; David fasted, then came and lay all night on the ground.

17 The court officials got up and stood next to him trying to get him off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn't eat food with them.

18 On the seventh day, the child died. The servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, because they said, "While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he didn't listen to us; if we tell him now that the child is dead, he may do himself some harm."