2Samuel 11

David and Bathsheba

11In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.H8141H8666H6256H4428H4397H3318H1732H7971H3097H5650H3478H7843H1121H5983H6696H7237H1732H3427H33892One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,H6153H6256H1732H6965H4904H1980H1406H4428H1004H1406H7200H802H7364H802H3966H2896H47583and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"H1732H7971H1875H802H559H1339H1323H463H802H223H28504Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.H1732H7971H4397H3947H935H7901H6942H2932H7725H10045The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."H802H2029H7971H5046H1732H559H20306So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David.H1732H7971H3097H7971H223H2850H3097H7971H223H17327When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.H223H935H1732H7592H3097H7965H5971H7965H4421H79658Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.H1732H559H223H3381H1004H7364H7272H223H3318H4428H1004H310H4864H44289But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house.H223H7901H6607H4428H1004H5650H113H3381H100410When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"H5046H1732H559H223H3381H1004H1732H559H223H935H1870H3381H100411Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"H223H559H1732H727H3478H3063H3427H5521H113H3097H5650H113H2583H6440H7704H589H935H1004H398H8354H7901H802H2416H5315H2416H6213H169712Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.H1732H559H223H3427H3117H4279H7971H223H3427H3389H3117H428313At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.H1732H7121H398H8354H6440H7937H6153H3318H7901H4904H5650H113H3381H100414In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.H1242H1732H3789H5612H3097H7971H3027H22315In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."H3789H5612H559H3051H223H6440H4136H2389H4421H7725H310H5221H419116So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.H3097H8104H5892H5414H223H4725H3045H2428H58217When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.H582H5892H3318H3898H3097H5307H5971H5650H1732H223H2850H419118Joab sent David a full account of the battle.H3097H7971H5046H1732H1697H442119He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,H6680H4397H559H3615H1696H1697H4421H442820the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?H4428H2534H5927H559H5066H5892H3898H3045H3384H234621Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'"H5221H40H1121H3380H802H7993H6400H7393H2346H4191H8405H5066H2346H559H5650H223H2850H419122The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.H4397H3212H935H5046H1732H3097H797123The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate.H4397H559H1732H582H1396H3318H7704H6607H817924Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."H3384H3384H2346H5650H4428H5650H4191H5650H223H2850H419125David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: 'Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab."H1732H559H4397H559H3097H1697H3415H5869H2719H398H2090H4421H2388H5892H2040H238826When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.H802H223H8085H223H376H4191H5594H116727After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.H60H5674H1732H7971H622H1004H802H3205H1121H1697H1732H6213H3415H5869H3068