2 Samuel 12:16-18

GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and lay on the ground all night. ¹⁷ The older leaders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling. And he wouldn’t eat with them.

¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died. But David’s officials were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. They thought, “While the child was alive, we talked to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may harm ⌞himself⌟.”