All of Jacob’s sons and daughters tried to comfort him. But Jacob was never comforted. Jacob said, “I will be sorry for my son until the day I die.” [227] So Jacob continued to be sad for his son Joseph.
On the seventh day, the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive. But he refused to listen to us. If we tell David that the baby is dead, maybe he will do something bad to himself.”
All day long people came to encourage David to eat food. But David had made a special promise. He said, “May God punish me and give me many troubles if I eat bread or any other food before the sun goes down.”
Then King Darius went back to his house. He did not eat that night. He did not want anyone to come and entertain him. The king could not sleep all night.