1 The Lord sent Nathan to see David. When he got there, he said, "Once there were two men living in the same town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man had many thousands of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man didn’t have anything but one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He cared for it, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his plate and drink from his cup. It slept on his lap and was like a daughter to him. 4 One day the rich man had a visitor. He didn’t want to take one of his own sheep or cattle to feed his visitor. He took the poor man’s lamb instead to prepare a meal for his visitor."
5 David became absolutely furious with what that man did, and angrily told Nathan. "As the Lord lives, the man who did this should be put to death! 6 He must repay that lamb with four12:6. See Exodus 22:1. of his own for doing this, for being so heartless."
7 "You are that man!" Nathan told David. "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel, and I saved you from Saul.