Bible Strands
2 Samuel 12:13
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks to the prophet Nathan, immediately after Nathan's parable of the ewe-lamb has been turned back on him (12:7–12). This is the confession that follows the confrontation.
The words — חָטָ֖אתִי (ḥāṭā'tî, "I have sinned") is a bare first-person perfect with no object clause; the preposition לַֽ/יהוָ֑ה (lāYahweh, "to Yahweh") names the direction of the offense rather than the victims. David does not say "I sinned against Bathsheba" or "against Uriah."
The thread — The same formula appears in 2 Samuel 24:10 ("I have sinned greatly") and Psalm 51:4 ("Against You, You only, have I sinned"), and Proverbs 28:13 pairs confession with mercy as a general principle.
Why it lands — Nathan's reply grants pardon ("You will not die"), yet the very next verse (12:14) pronounces the death of the child. Confession here does not function as a cancellation of consequences; it changes the speaker's standing before God, not the world's causal chain.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- 2 Samuel 24:10 After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
- Psalms 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Zechariah 3:4 So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”
- Psalms 32:1 Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
- Luke 15:21 The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
- Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- 1 Samuel 15:30 “I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”
- Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,