2 Samuel 12:16

16 David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon 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 But because you have {utterly scorned} Yahweh in this matter, the son born for you {will certainly die}."

15 Then Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the child that the wife of Uriah bore for David, and he became ill.

16 David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.

17 The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he [was] not willing, and he did not eat [any] food with them.

18 It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil."