2 Samuel 12:16

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

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 of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die."

15 After Nathan went home, God afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he came down sick.

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

17 The elders in his family came in and tried to get him off the floor, but he wouldn't budge. Nor could they get him to eat anything.

18 On the seventh day the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him. They said, "What do we do now? While the child was living he wouldn't listen to a word we said. Now, with the child dead, if we speak to him there's no telling what he'll do."