Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

2 SAMUEL 12:9KJV
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2 Samuel 12:9 (KJV)

What does 2 Samuel 12:9 mean?

2 Samuel 12:9 records the prophet Nathan confronting King David for his serious wrongdoing. Nathan accuses David of despising God's command by arranging the death of Uriah the Hittite and taking Uriah’s wife for himself, calling these actions evil in God’s sight.

Nathan is speaking directly to David after David’s secret sins with Bathsheba and against Uriah have come to light. In this verse, Nathan lays out David’s guilt plainly: David has not just broken a rule, but has treated God's word with contempt, leading to murder and adultery. The verse highlights the gravity of David’s actions and God’s awareness of them, even when David tried to hide them.

The Hebrew behind 2 Samuel 12:9

  • "despised" (בָּזָה, bazah): This word means to treat with contempt or to consider something as worthless. Nathan accuses David of treating God's command as if it did not matter, which deepens the seriousness of David’s sin beyond just breaking a rule.
  • "commandment" (דָּבָר, davar): While often translated as “commandment,” this word can also mean “word” or “matter.” Here, it emphasizes that David has disregarded what God has spoken or instructed, not just a legal requirement.
  • "do evil" (עָשָׂה רַע, asah ra): The phrase means to actively commit what is wrong or harmful. Nathan points out that David’s actions were not accidental but deliberate choices to do what God calls evil.
  • "killed" (נָכָה, nakah) and "slain" (הָרַג, harag): Two different Hebrew words are used for David’s involvement in Uriah’s death, highlighting both the act of striking down and the act of killing, showing the layered responsibility David bears for Uriah’s death.

Why 2 Samuel 12:9 matters

  • This verse makes clear that David’s sin was not just a private moral failing but a public offense against God’s authority and word, showing the seriousness with which God views such actions.
  • The verse connects David’s actions—adultery and orchestrated murder—directly to a disregard for God, not just harm to other people, which is a key point in understanding the biblical view of sin.
  • By naming Uriah and the Ammonites, the verse grounds David’s actions in real events and people, making the consequences of his choices concrete and not just theoretical.

Where else these words appear

“Uriah” Hebrew H223 · used in 33 verses

  • 2 Samuel 11:3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
  • 2 Samuel 11:16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
  • 2 Kings 16:15 And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.

“despised” Hebrew H959 · used in 41 verses

  • Genesis 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
  • Psalms 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
  • Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“Hittite” Hebrew H2850 · used in 47 verses

  • Genesis 15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
  • Numbers 13:29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
  • 2 Samuel 11:21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

“Ammon” Hebrew H5983 · used in 98 verses

  • Genesis 19:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
  • Judges 11:36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
  • 1 Chronicles 19:11 And the rest of the people he delivered unto the hand of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in array against the children of Ammon.