The king who took, and the prophet who told him

In the spring, when kings go out to war, David stayed home. From the roof he sees Bathsheba, sends for her, and takes her — and when she is pregnant he arranges for her husband Uriah to die at the front, then marries the widow. A whole chapter passes with no comment except the last line: the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. The prophet Nathan comes and tells a story about a rich man who stole a poor man's only lamb. David explodes with judgement, and Nathan says four words: you are the man. David does not have Nathan killed, which is what most kings of that era would have done. He says, I have sinned. The consequences run through the rest of his family and his reign, and they are not lifted. Psalm 51 is what he wrote afterwards.