2 Samuel 12:20-22

New Catholic Bible

²⁰ David, thereupon, rose from the ground, bathed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He then went into the house of the Lord and worshiped before he returned to his own house. When he requested food, they set it before him, and he ate. ²¹ His servants said to him: “Why are you acting in this way? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive, but when the child died, you got up and ate food.”

²² David said: “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I thought: ‘Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to me and allow the child to live.’