The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to him and said, There were two men in the same town: one a man of great wealth, and the other a poor man.
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The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor.
2 The man of wealth had great numbers of flocks and herds;
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The rich man had many cattle and sheep,
3 But the poor man had only one little she-lamb, which he had got and taken care of: from its birth it had been with him like one of his children; his meat was its food, and from his cup it took its drink, resting in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
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while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him.
4 Now a traveller came to the house of the man of wealth, but he would not take anything from his flock or his herd to make a meal for the traveller who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and made it ready for the man who had come.
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One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest."
5 And David was full of wrath against that man; and he said to Nathan, By the living Lord, death is the right punishment for the man who has done this:
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David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die!
6 And he will have to give back four times the value of the lamb, because he has done this and because he had no pity.
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For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took."
7 And Nathan said to David, You are that man. The Lord God of Israel says, I made you king over Israel, putting holy oil on you, and I kept you safe from the hands of Saul;
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"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the Lord God of Israel says: "I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul.
8 I gave you your master's daughter and your master's wives for yourself, and I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had not been enough, I would have given you such and such things.
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I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah. If this had not been enough, I would have given you twice as much.
9 Why then have you had no respect for the word of the Lord, doing what is evil in his eyes? You have put Uriah the Hittite to death with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife; you have put him to death with the sword of the children of Ammon.
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Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife!
10 So now the sword will never be turned away from your family; because you have had no respect for me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
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Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife.
11 The Lord says, From those of your family I will send evil against you, and before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he will take your wives to his bed by the light of this sun.
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I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight.
12 You did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel and in the light of the sun.
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You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.' "
13 And David said to Nathan, Great is my sin against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord has put away your sin; death will not come on you.
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"I have sinned against the Lord," David said. Nathan replied, "The Lord forgives you; you will not die.
14 But still, because you have had no respect for the Lord, death will certainly overtake the child who has newly come to birth.
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But because you have shown such contempt for the Lord in doing this, your child will die."
15 Then Nathan went back to his house. And the hand of the Lord was on David's son, the child of Uriah's wife, and it became very ill.
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Then Nathan went home. The Lord caused the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David to become very sick.
16 So David made prayer to God for the child; and he took no food day after day, and went in and, stretching himself out on the earth, was there all night.
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David prayed to God that the child would get well. He refused to eat anything, and every night he went into his room and spent the night lying on the floor.
17 And the chief men of his house got up and went to his side to make him get up from the earth, but he would not; and he would not take food with them.
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His court officials went to him and tried to make him get up, but he refused and would not eat anything with them.
18 And then on the seventh day the child's death took place. And David's servants were in fear of giving him the news of the child's death: for they said, Truly, while the child was still living he gave no attention when we said anything to him: what will he do to himself if we give him word that the child is dead?
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A week later the child died, and David's officials were afraid to tell him the news. They said, "While the child was living, David wouldn't answer us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that his child is dead? He might do himself some harm!"
19 But when David saw that his servants were talking together quietly, he was certain that the child was dead: and he said to his servants, Is the child dead? and they said, He is.
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When David noticed them whispering to each other, he realized that the child had died. So he asked them, "Is the child dead?" "Yes, he is," they answered.
20 Then David got up from the earth, and after washing and rubbing himself with oil and changing his clothing, he went into the house of the Lord and gave worship: then he went back to his house, and at his order they put food before him and he had a meal.
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David got up from the floor, took a bath, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went and worshiped in the house of the Lord. When he returned to the palace, he asked for food and ate it as soon as it was served.
21 Then his servants said to him, Why have you been acting in this way? you were weeping and going without food while the child was still living; but when the child was dead, you got up and had a meal.
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"We don't understand this," his officials said to him. "While the child was alive, you wept for him and would not eat; but as soon as he died, you got up and ate!"
22 And he said, While the child was still living I went without food and gave myself up to weeping: for I said, Who is able to say that the Lord will not have mercy on me and give the child life?
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"Yes," David answered, "I did fast and weep while he was still alive. I thought that the Lord might be merciful to me and not let the child die.
23 But now that the child is dead there is no reason for me to go without food; am I able to make him come back to life? I will go to him, but he will never come back to me.
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But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Could I bring the child back to life? I will some day go to where he is, but he can never come back to me."
24 And David gave comfort to his wife Bath-sheba, and he went in to her and had connection with her: and she had a son to whom she gave the name Solomon. And he was dear to the Lord.
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Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had intercourse with her, and she bore a son, whom David named Solomon. The Lord loved the boy
25 And he sent word by Nathan the prophet, who gave him the name Jedidiah, by the word of the Lord.
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and commanded the prophet Nathan to name the boy Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.
26 Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon, and he took the water-town.
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Meanwhile Joab continued his campaign against Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon, and was about to capture it.
27 And Joab sent men to David, saying, I have made war against Rabbah and have taken the water-town.
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He sent messengers to David to report: "I have attacked Rabbah and have captured its water supply.
28 So now, get the rest of the people together, and put them in position against the town and take it, for if I take it, it will be named after my name.
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Now gather the rest of your forces, attack the city and take it yourself. I don't want to get the credit for capturing it."
29 Then David got all the people together and went to Rabbah and made war on it and took it.
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So David gathered his forces, went to Rabbah, attacked it, and conquered it.
30 And he took the crown of Milcom from his head; the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were stones of great price; and it was put on David's head. And he took a great store of goods from the town.
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From the head of the idol of the Ammonite god Molech David took a gold crown which weighed about seventy-five pounds and had a jewel in it. David took the jewel and put it in his own crown. He also took a large amount of loot from the city
31 And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and iron axes, and at brick-making: this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.
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and put its people to work with saws, iron hoes, and iron axes, and forced them to work at making bricks. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.