2 Samuel 12:9-10

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ¹  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ²  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

2 Samuel 12:13-14

12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven ³  your sin. You are not going to die. 12:14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt ⁴  in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

[12:9]  ¹ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ² tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.

[12:13]  ³ tn Heb “removed.”

[12:14]  ⁴ tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”