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2 Samuel 12:15

in 2 Samuel 12

After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Nathan departed unto his house. And Jehovah struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

KJV

And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

This verse in 2 Samuel 12

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The diseases and death of infants that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, especially as they are sometimes sadly circumstanced, are sensible proofs of the original sin in which they are conceived.

This site's exposition

the LORD struck the child

on 2 Samuel 12:15-17

After Nathan goes home, “the LORD struck the child”, and the sickness is the sentence of verse 14 at work. David pleads with God, fasts, and spends the night “lying in sackcloth on the ground”. He will not rise or eat when the elders of his household stand beside him.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Salvian the Presbyter

THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 4.18 · Written before 500.

proposed

How particularly difficult it is to atone for the evil deed of handing over the name of the Lord to the blasphemy of the heathen, we are instructed by the example of the most blessed David who, because of the intercession of his acts of …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Nathan departed unto his house,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Because you have angered the enemies of Adonoy. This is a euphimism a way [to be] respectable to on High. 6 Using “enemies of God” to stand in for God in order for the word “angered” not to have to be applied to Him in a direct way.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 12:14:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And came to repose and lied on the ground. And came [back] to the house and reposed at night lying on the ground.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 12:16:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּ֥לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • נָתָ֖ןNathan

    natanH5416 →41 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בֵּית֑וֹhouse his

    beitoH1004 →2046 times

  • וַיִּגֹּ֣ףand he struck

    vaiyigofH5062 →49 times

  • יְהוָ֗הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַיֶּ֜לֶדthe child

    haiyeledH3206 →89 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhom

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יָלְדָ֧הshe had borne

    yaldahH3205 →496 times

  • אֵֽשֶׁת־[the] wife of

    ʾeshet-H802 →781 times

  • אוּרִיָּ֛הUriah

    ʾuriyahH223 →39 times

  • לְדָוִ֖דto David

    ledavidH1732 →999 times

  • וַיֵּאָנַֽשׁ׃and he was sick

    vaiyeanashH605 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 32:39

    See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 2:6

      The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

    • Hosea 6:1

      Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

    • Job 5:18

      For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

    • Isaiah 45:5

      I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me,

    • Isaiah 45:22

      Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

  • Through

    Psalms 104:29

    When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

    it leads to

    • Job 34:14–15

      If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,

    • Ecclesiastes 12:7

      before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 26:10

    David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 31:14

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua…

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Salvian the Presbyter, THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 4.18.