2 Samuel 11
11
David Meets Bathsheba
1In the spring, when kings go out to war, David sent Joab, his officers, and all the Israelites out to destroy the Ammonites. Joab’s army surrounded their capital city, Rabbah.
David stayed in Jerusalem. 2One evening he got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his house. From there he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful, 3so David sent for his officers and asked them who she was. An officer answered, “That is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4David sent messengers to go and bring Bathsheba to him. She had just purified herself after her monthly time of bleeding. She went to David, he had sexual relations with her, and then she went back to her house. 5Later, Bathsheba became pregnant. She sent word to him saying, “I am pregnant.”
David Tries to Hide His Sin
6David sent a message to Joab. “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.”
So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7When Uriah came, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, “Go home and relax.#11:8 relax Literally, “wash your feet.””
So Uriah left the king’s palace. The king also sent a gift to Uriah. 9But Uriah did not go home. He slept outside the door of the king’s palace, as the rest of the king’s servants did. 10The servants told David, “Uriah did not go home.”
Then David said to Uriah, “You came from a long trip. Why did you not go home?”
11Uriah said to David, “The Holy Box and the soldiers of Israel and Judah are staying in tents. My lord Joab and my lord’s officers are camping out in the field. So it is not right for me to go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife. As surely as you live, I will not do this.”
12David said to Uriah, “Stay here today. Tomorrow I will send you back to the battle.”
Uriah stayed in Jerusalem until the next morning. 13Then David called Uriah to come and see him. Uriah ate and drank with David. David got him drunk, but Uriah still did not go home. That evening, Uriah again slept at the palace with the rest of the king’s servants.
David Plans Uriah’s Death
14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and made Uriah carry the letter. 15In the letter David wrote: “Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is the hardest. Then leave him there alone, and let him be killed in battle.”
16Joab watched the city and saw where the bravest Ammonites were. He chose Uriah to go to that place. 17The men of the city came out to fight against Joab. Some of David’s men were killed. Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18Then Joab sent a report to David about what happened in the battle. 19Joab told the messenger to tell King David what had happened in the battle. 20“The king might get upset and ask, ‘Why did Joab’s army go that close to the city to fight? Surely he knows that there are men on the city walls who can shoot arrows down at his men? 21Surely he remembers that at Thebez a woman killed Abimelech son of Jerub Besheth when she threw the top part of a grinding stone down from the wall. So why did he go that close to the wall?’ If King David says something like that, tell him, ‘Your officer, Uriah the Hittite, also died.’”
22The messenger went in and told David everything Joab told him to say. 23The messenger told David, “The men of Ammon attacked us in the field. We fought them and chased them all the way to the city gate. 24Then the men on the city wall shot arrows at your officers. Some of your officers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”
25David said to the messenger, “Give this message to Joab: ‘Don’t be too upset about this. A sword can kill one person as well as the next. Make a stronger attack against Rabbah and you will win.’ Encourage Joab with these words.”
David Marries Bathsheba
26Bathsheba heard that her husband Uriah had died, so she mourned for him. 27After her time of sadness, David sent servants to bring her to his house. She became David’s wife and gave birth to a son for David. But the Lord did not like what David had done.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
2 Samuel 11
11
2 Samuel 11
1¶ And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his slaves with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2And it came to pass one evening, that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?
4And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her. Then she purified herself from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house.
5And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child.
6¶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7And when Uriah had come unto him, David asked him how Joab was and how the people were and how the war prospered.
8And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and royal food was sent unto him.
9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the slaves of his lord and did not go down to his house.
10And when they had told David, saying, Uriah did not go down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Didst thou not come from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down to thy house?
11And Uriah said unto David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab and the slaves of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By thy life and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing.
12And David said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the next day.
13And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the slaves of his lord but did not go down to his house.
14¶ And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die.
16And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that the most valiant men were.
17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the people of the slaves of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war
19and charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast finished telling the matters of the war unto the king,
20and if the king begins to be angry and he should say unto thee, Why did you approach so near unto the city when ye fought? Did ye not know that which they can throw down from the wall?
21Who 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 did you go near the wall? Then thou shalt say, Thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.
22So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.
23And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out unto us into the field, and we made them retreat unto the entering of the gate.
24And the archers shot from off the wall upon thy slaves, and some of the king’s slaves are dead, and thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.
25Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another; strengthen the battle against the city until it is overthrown and encourage thou him.
26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27And when the mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and gave birth to a son unto him. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International