2 Samuel 12:1

Bible in Basic English (1941)

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan came to him and said, There were two men in the same town: one a man of great wealth, and the other a poor man.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּשְׁלַ֧ח יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־נָתָ֖ן אֶל־דָּוִ֑ד וַיָּבֹ֣א אֵלָ֗יו וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לוֹ֙ שְׁנֵ֣י אֲנָשִׁ֗ים הָיוּ֙ בְּעִ֣יר אֶחָ֔ת אֶחָ֥ד עָשִׁ֖יר וְאֶחָ֥ד רָֽאשׁ

Transliteration

wə-yišlaḥ YHWH ʾet-nātān ʾel-dāwid wə-yābōʾ to-him wə-yōʾmer to-him, šənê ʾănāšîm hāyû in-ʿîr one, one ʿāšîr wə-ʾeḥād rāʾš

Grammar Details

• *wə-yišlaḥ*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he sent
• *YHWH*: proper noun - Yahweh, the LORD
• *ʾet-nātān*: direct object marker + proper noun - Nathan (literally: 'the one who gives')
• *ʾel-dāwid*: preposition + proper noun - to David
• *wə-yābōʾ*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he came
• *wə-yōʾmer*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he said
• *šənê*: cardinal number, construct state - two of
• *ʾănāšîm*: common noun, masculine plural - men
• *hāyû*: Qal perfect 3rd common plural - they were
• *ʿîr*: common noun, feminine singular - city
• *ʿāšîr*: adjective, masculine singular - rich
• *wə-ʾeḥād*: conjunction + cardinal number - and one
• *rāʾš*: adjective, masculine singular - poor

Word Meanings

• *ʾet-nātān*: Nathan (lit: 'gift', 'the one who gives')
• *rāʾš*: poor/impoverished/destitute

Referenced Verses

• 1 Kgs 20:35-41 : 35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbour by the word of the Lord, Give me a wound. But the man would not. 36 Then he said to him, Because you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, straight away when you have gone from me a lion will put you to death. And when he had gone, straight away a lion came rushing at him and put him to death. 37 Then he came across another man, and said, Give me a wound. And the man gave him a blow wounding him. 38 So the prophet went away, and pulling his head-band over his eyes to keep his face covered, took his place by the road waiting for the king. 39 And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment. 40 But while your servant was turning this way and that, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, You are responsible; you have given the decision against yourself. 41 Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.
• 2 Kgs 1:3 : 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Go now, and, meeting the men sent by the king of Samaria, say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you are going to get directions from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?
• Ps 51:1-9 : 1 <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.> Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin. 2 Let all my wrongdoing be washed away, and make me clean from evil. 3 For I am conscious of my error; my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I done wrong, working that which is evil in your eyes; so that your words may be seen to be right, and you may be clear when you are judging. 5 Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth. 6 Your desire is for what is true in the inner parts: in the secrets of my soul you will give me knowledge of wisdom. 7 Make me free from sin with hyssop: let me be washed whiter than snow. 8 Make me full of joy and rapture; so that the bones which have been broken may be glad. 9 Let your face be turned from my wrongdoing, and take away all my sins. 10 Make a clean heart in me, O God; give me a right spirit again. 11 Do not put me away from before you, or take your holy spirit from me. 12 Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support. 13 Then will I make your ways clear to wrongdoers; and sinners will be turned to you. 14 Be my saviour from violent death, O God, the God of my salvation; and my tongue will give praise to your righteousness. 15 O Lord, let my lips be open, so that my mouth may make clear your praise. 16 You have no desire for an offering or I would give it; you have no delight in burned offerings. 17 The offerings of God are a broken spirit; a broken and sorrowing heart, O God, you will not put from you. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, building up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will have delight in the offerings of righteousness, in burned offerings and offerings of beasts; then they will make offerings of oxen on your altar.
• Isa 5:1-7 : 1 Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill: 2 And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes. 3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden. 4 Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes? 5 And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it; 6 And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it. 7 For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
• Isa 57:17-18 : 17 I was quickly angry with his evil ways, and sent punishment on him, veiling my face in wrath: and he went on, turning his heart from me. 18 I have seen his ways, and I will make him well: I will give him rest, comforting him and his people who are sad.
• Matt 21:33-45 : 33 Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country. 34 And when the time for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the workmen, to get the fruit. 35 And the workmen made an attack on his servants, giving blows to one, putting another to death, and stoning another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more in number than the first: and they did the same to them. 37 But after that he sent his son to them, saying, They will have respect for my son. 38 But when the workmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death and take his heritage. 39 And they took him and, driving him out of the vine-garden, put him to death. 40 When, then, the lord of the vine-garden comes, what will he do to those workmen? 41 They say to him, He will put those cruel men to a cruel death, and will let out the vine-garden to other workmen, who will give him the fruit when it is ready. 42 Jesus says to them, Did you never see in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes? 43 For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. 44 Any man falling on this stone will be broken, but he on whom it comes down will be crushed to dust. 45 And when his stories came to the ears of the chief priests and the Pharisees, they saw that he was talking of them.
• Luke 15:11-32 : 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me that part of your property which will be mine. And he made division of his goods between them. 13 And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living. 14 And when everything was gone, there was no food to be had in that country, and he was in need. 15 And he went and put himself into the hands of one of the people of that country, and he sent him into his fields to give the pigs their food. 16 And so great was his need that he would have been glad to take the pigs' food, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses, he said, What numbers of my father's servants have bread enough, and more, while I am near to death here through need of food! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes: 19 I am no longer good enough to be named your son: make me like one of your servants. 20 And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still far away, his father saw him and was moved with pity for him and went quickly and took him in his arms and gave him a kiss. 21 And his son said to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes: I am no longer good enough to be named your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Get out the first robe quickly, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet: 23 And get the fat young ox and put it to death, and let us have a feast, and be glad. 24 For this, my son, who was dead, is living again; he had gone away from me, and has come back. And they were full of joy. 25 Now the older son was in the field: and when he came near the house, the sounds of music and dancing came to his ears. 26 And he sent for one of the servants, questioning him about what it might be. 27 And he said to him, Your brother has come; and your father has had the young ox put to death because he has come back safely. 28 But he was angry and would not go in; and his father came out and made a request to him to come in. 29 But he made answer and said to his father, See, all these years I have been your servant, doing your orders in everything: and you never gave me even a young goat so that I might have a feast with my friends: 30 But when this your son came, who has been wasting your property with bad women, you put to death the fat young ox for him. 31 And he said to him, Son, you are with me at all times, and all I have is yours. 32 But it was right to be glad and to have a feast; for this your brother, who was dead, is living again; he had gone away and has come back.
• Judg 9:7-9 : 7 Now Jotham, on hearing of it, went to the top of Mount Gerizim, and crying out with a loud voice said to them, Give ear to me, you townsmen of Shechem, so that God may give ear to you. 8 One day the trees went out to make a king for themselves; and they said to the olive-tree, Be king over us. 9 But the olive-tree said to them, Am I to give up my wealth of oil, by which men give honour to God, and go waving over the trees? 10 Then the trees said to the fig-tree, You come and be king over us. 11 But the fig-tree said to them, Am I to give up my sweet taste and my good fruit and go waving over the trees? 12 Then the trees said to the vine, You come and be king over us. 13 But the vine said to them, Am I to give up my wine, which makes glad God and men, to go waving over the trees? 14 Then all the trees said to the thorn, You come and be king over us. 15 And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon.
• 2 Sam 7:1-5 : 1 Now when the king was living in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from war on every side; 2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God is housed inside the curtains of a tent. 3 And Nathan said to the king, Go and do whatever is in your heart; for the Lord is with you. 4 Now that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, 5 Go and say to my servant David, The Lord says, Are you to be the builder of a house, a living-place for me?
• 2 Sam 7:17 : 17 So Nathan gave David an account of all these words and this vision.
• 2 Sam 11:10-17 : 10 And when word was given to David that Uriah had not gone down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why did you not go down to your house? 11 And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing. 12 And David said to Uriah, Be here today, and after that I will let you go. So Uriah was in Jerusalem that day and the day after. 13 And when David sent for him, he took meat and drink with him, and David made him the worse for drink: and when evening came, he went to rest on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14 Now in the morning, David gave Uriah a letter to take to Joab. 15 And in the letter he said, Take care to put Uriah in the very front of the line, where the fighting is most violent, and go back from him, so that he may be overcome and put to death. 16 So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in the place where it was clear to him the best fighters were. 17 And the men of the town went out and had a fight with Joab: and a number of David's men came to their death in the fight, and with them Uriah the Hittite.
• 2 Sam 11:25 : 25 Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.
• 2 Sam 14:5-9 : 5 And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And her answer was, Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6 And I had two sons, and the two of them had a fight in the field, and there was no one to come between them, and one with a blow put the other to death. 7 And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth. 8 And the king said to the woman, Go to your house and I will give orders about this. 9 And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, may the sin be on me and on my family, and may the king and the seat of his kingdom be clear of sin! 10 And the king said, If anyone says anything to you, make him come to me, and he will do you no more damage. 11 Then she said, Let the king keep in mind the Lord your God, so that he who gives punishment for blood may be kept back from further destruction and that no one may send death on my son. And he said, By the living Lord, not a hair of your son's head will come to the earth.
• 2 Sam 14:14 : 14 For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.
• 2 Sam 24:11-13 : 11 And David got up in the morning; now the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, and I will do it to you. 13 So Gad came to David, and gave him word of this and said to him, Are there to be three years when there is not enough food in your land? or will you go in flight from your haters for three months, while they go after you? or will you have three days of violent disease in your land? take thought and say what answer I am to give to him who sent me.
• 1 Kgs 13:1 : 1 Then a man of God came from Judah by the order of the Lord to Beth-el, where Jeroboam was by the altar, burning offerings.
• 1 Kgs 18:1 : 1 Now after a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go and let Ahab see you, so that I may send rain on the earth.
• Luke 16:19-31 : 19 Now there was a certain man of great wealth, who was dressed in fair clothing of purple and delicate linen, and was shining and glad every day. 20 And a certain poor man, named Lazarus, was stretched out at his door, full of wounds, 21 Desiring the broken bits of food which came from the table of the man of wealth; and even the dogs came and put their tongues on his wounds. 22 And in time the poor man came to his end, and angels took him to Abraham's breast. And the man of wealth came to his end, and was put in the earth. 23 And in hell, being in great pain, lifting up his eyes he saw Abraham, far away, and Lazarus on his breast. 24 And he gave a cry and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may put the end of his finger in water and put it on my tongue, for I am cruelly burning in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Keep in mind, my son, that when you were living, you had your good things, while Lazarus had evil things: but now, he is comforted and you are in pain. 26 And in addition, there is a deep division fixed between us and you, so that those who might go from here to you are not able to do so, and no one may come from you to us. 27 And he said, Father, it is my request that you will send him to my father's house; 28 For I have five brothers; and let him give them an account of these things, so that they may not come to this place of pain. 29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; let them give ear to what they say. 30 And he said, No, father Abraham, but if someone went to them from the dead, their hearts would be changed. 31 And he said to him, If they will not give attention to Moses and the prophets, they will not be moved even if someone comes back from the dead.