2 Samuel 12:1

Updated Bible Version

And Yahweh sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him:

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD sent Natan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

King James Version
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

Lexham English Bible
So Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, "Two men were in a certain city; one was rich and the other was poor.

English Standard Version
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

New Century Version
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, he said, "There were two men in a city. One was rich, but the other was poor.

New English Translation
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, "There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

Amplified Bible
And the LORD sent Nathan [the prophet] to David. He came and said to him, "There were two men in a city, one rich and the other poor.

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, "There were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the Lorde sent Nathan vnto Dauid, who came to him, and sayd vnto him, There were two men in one citie, the one riche, and the other poore.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said,"There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

Contemporary English Version
and he sent Nathan the prophet to tell this story to David: A rich man and a poor man lived in the same town.

Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai sent Natan to David. He came and said to him, "In a certain city there were two men, one rich, the other poor.

Darby Translation
And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men in a city. One man was rich, but the other man was poor.

George Lamsa Translation
AND the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

Good News Translation
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.

Literal Translation
And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the LORDE sent Nathan vnto Dauid. Whan he came to him, he tolde him: There were two men in one cite, the one riche, the other poore.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

Bible in Basic English
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.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lord sent Nathan vnto Dauid, and he came vnto him, and tolde him: There were two men in one citie, the one rich, & the other poore.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him: 'There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor.

King James Version (1611)
And the Lord sent Nathan vnto Dauid: and he came vnto him, and said vnto him, There were two men in one citie; the one rich, and the other poore.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David; and he went in to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

English Revised Version
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, "There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor the Lord sente Nathan to Dauid; and whanne he hadde come to Dauid, he seide to Dauid, Answere thou doom to me; twei men weren in o citee; o man was riche, and the tother was pore.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah sendeth Nathan unto David, and he cometh unto him, and saith to him: `Two men have been in one city; One rich and one poor;

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

World English Bible
Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

New King James Version
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

New Living Translation
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: "There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor.

New Life Bible
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, "There were two men in one city. One was rich and the other was poor.

New Revised Standard
and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then Yahweh sent Nathan the prophet unto David, - who therefore came unto him and said to him - Two men, there were in a certain city, the one, rich, and, the other, poor.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord sent Nathan to David: and when he was come to him, he said to him: There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.

Revised Standard Version
And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

THE MESSAGE
and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, "There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

Contextual Overview

¹ And Yahweh sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. ² The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his sons; it ate of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter. ⁴ And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that came to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that came to him. ⁵ And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh lives, the man that has done this is worthy to die: ⁶ and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. ⁷ And Nathan said to David, You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; ⁸ and I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you such and such things. ⁹ Why have you despised Yahweh, to do that which is evil in his eyes? you have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 2970, bc 1034, An, Ex, Is, 457

the Lord: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 2 Samuel 24:11-13, 1 Kings 13:1, 1 Kings 18:1, 2 Kings 1:3

unto David: 2 Samuel 11:10-17, 2 Samuel 11:25, 2 Samuel 14:14, Isaiah 57:17, Isaiah 57:18

he came: Psalms 51:1, *title

There were: There is nothing in this parable which requires illustration. Its bent is evident; and it was wisely constructed, by not having too near a resemblance, to make David unwittingly pass sentence on himself. The parable was in David's hand what his own letter was in the hands of the brave Uriah. Nathan at length closed in with him in the application of it. In beginning with a parable he shewed his prudence, and great need there is of prudence in giving reproof; but now he speaks as an ambassador from God. He reminds David of the great things God had designed and done for him, and then charges him with a high contempt of the Divine authority, and threatens an entail of judgments upon his family for this sin. Those who despise the word and law of God, despise God himself, and will assuredly suffer for such contempt. 2 Samuel 14:5-11, Judges 9:7-15, 1 Kings 20:35-41, Isaiah 5:1-7, Matthew 21:33-45, Luke 15:11-32, Luke 16:19-31

Reciprocal: Judges 3:20 - I have 2 Samuel 5:14 - Nathan 2 Samuel 7:2 - Nathan 2 Samuel 12:25 - Nathan 1 Kings 1:8 - Nathan 1 Kings 1:10 - General 1 Kings 4:5 - son of Nathan 1 Kings 20:39 - Thy servant 2 Kings 14:9 - The thistle 1 Chronicles 3:5 - Nathan 1 Chronicles 14:4 - Nathan 1 Chronicles 17:1 - Nathan 1 Chronicles 29:29 - Nathan 2 Chronicles 9:29 - Nathan 2 Chronicles 25:7 - a man of God 2 Chronicles 25:15 - a prophet 2 Chronicles 29:25 - Nathan Psalms 32:3 - When Isaiah 39:3 - came Isaiah Jeremiah 22:1 - Go Ezekiel 17:2 - General Zechariah 12:12 - Nathan Matthew 13:3 - in Galatians 6:1 - restore

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing;

Genesis 12:3
and I will bless those that bless you, and him that curses you I will curse: and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:6
And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Genesis 12:10
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was intense in the land.

Genesis 12:11
And it came to pass, when he came near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Now see, I know that you are a fair woman to look at:

Genesis 15:7
And he said to him, I am Yahweh that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.

Nehemiah 9:7
You are Yahweh the God, who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham,

Isaiah 41:9
you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to you, You are my slave, I have chosen you and not cast you away;

Isaiah 51:2
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

Ezekiel 33:24
Son of man, those that inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land was given to us for inheritance.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord sent Nathan unto David,.... Quickly after the child was born begotten on Bathsheba, and when it was known and became the public talk of people, and the enemies of religion were full of it, and blasphemed on account of it, 2 Samuel 12:14; so that David was nine months or more without any true sense of his sin, his heart hardened, his graces dormant, the joys of salvation taken from him, and he without any communion with God, and having little concern about it; though perhaps he might have some pangs at times, which quickly went off; though some think he exercised repentance in a private way before; acknowledged his sin to the Lord, and had a sense of pardon, and before this time penned the thirty second and the hundred thirtieth psalms on this occasion, Psalms 32:1; but Nathan is sent to awaken and arouse him, to express a sense of his sin, and repentance for it in public, which he did by penning and publishing the fifty first psalm after Nathan had been with him, Psalms 51:1; for though the Lord may leave his people to fall into sin, and suffer them to continue therein some time, yet not always; they shall rise again through the assistance of his Spirit and grace, in the acts of repentance and faith, both in private and public:

and he came unto him, and said unto him: he came as if he had a case to lay before him, and to have justice done, and he told the story as if it was a real fact, and so David understood it:

there were two men in one city: pointing at David and Uriah, who both lived in Jerusalem:

the one rich and the other poor; David the rich man, king over all Israel; Uriah a subject, an officer in his army, comparatively poor.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nathan came to David as if to ask his judicial decision on the case about to be submitted to him (compare 2 Samuel 14:2-11; 1 Kings 20:35-41). The circumstances of the story are exquisitely contrived to heighten the pity of David for the oppressed, and his indignation against the oppressor 1 Samuel 25:13, 1 Samuel 25:22.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XII

The Lord sends Nathan the prophet to reprove David; which he

does by means of a curious parable, 1-4.

David is led, unknowingly, to pronounce his on condemnation,

5, 6.

Nathan charges the guilt home on his conscience; and predicts

a long train of calamities which should fall on him and his

family, 7-12.

David confesses his sin; and Nathan gives him hope of God's

mercy, and foretells the death of the child born in adultery,

13, 14.

The child is taken ill; David fasts and prays for its

restoration, 15-17.

On the seventh day the child dies, and David is comforted,

18-24.

Solomon is born of Bath-sheba, 25, 26.

Joab besieges Rabbah of the Ammonites, takes the city of waters,

and sends for David to take Rabbah, 27, 28.

He comes, takes it, gets much spoil, and puts the inhabitants to

hard labor, 29-31.

NOTES ON CHAP. XII

Verse 2 Samuel 12:1. There were two men in one city — See a discourse on fables at the end of Judges 9:56, and a discourse on parabolic writing at the end of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew.

There is nothing in this parable that requires illustration; its bent is evident; and it was construed to make David, unwittingly, pass sentence on himself. It was in David's hand, what his own letters were in the hands of the brave but unfortunate Uriah.