aken the wife of Urias the Hethite to
be thy wife.

12:11. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee
out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give
them to thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of
this sun.

I will raise, etc... All these evils, inasmuch as they were punishments,
came upon David by a just judgment of God, for his sin, and therefore
God says, I will raise, etc.; but inasmuch as they were sins, on the
part of Absalom and his associates, God was not the author of them, but
only permitted them.

12:12. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight
of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.

12:13. And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And
Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt
not die.

12:14. Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of
the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee,
shall surely die.

12:15. And Nathan returned to his house. The Lord also struck the child
which the wife of Urias had borne to David, and his life was despaired
of.

12:16. And David besought the Lord for the child: and David kept a fast,
and going in by himself lay upon the ground.

12:17. And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the
ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.

12:18. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and
the servants of David feared to tell him, that the child was dead. For
they said: Behold when the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he
would not hearken to our voice: how much more will he afflict himself if
we tell him that the child is dead?

12:19. But when David saw his servants whispering, he understood that
the child was dead: and he said to his servants: Is the child dead? They
answered him He is dead.

12:20. Then David arose from the ground, and washed and anointed
himself: and when he had changed his apparel, he went into the house of
the Lord: and worshipped, and then he came into his own house, and he
called for bread, and ate.

12:21. And his servants said to him: What thing is this that thou hast
done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive, but
when the child was dead, thou didst rise up, and eat bread.

12:22. And he said: While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept for
him: for I said: Who knoweth w