2 Samuel 12:16

16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth^[a] on the ground.

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2 Samuel 12:16 in Other Translations

KJV

16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

ESV

16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

NLT

16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground.

MSG

16 David prayed desperately to God for the little boy. He fasted, wouldn't go out, and slept on the floor.

CSB

16 David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went [home], and spent the night lying 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

2 Samuel 12:16 In-Context

14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.”

15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.

17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”

Cross References 1

1. 2 Samuel 13:31; Psalms 5:7; Psalms 95:6

Footnotes 1

[a]. Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; Masoretic Text does not have "in sackcloth" .