SECOND SAMUEL

 

2 Samuel Chapter 11

1 ¶ In the following year, at the time when kings march out to battle, David sent Joab, with his officers, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 And one evening it so happened, that David got up from his couch, and strolled around on the roof of the palace: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very lovely to behold.

3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned to her house.

5 And the woman conceived, and sent word to David, saying, I am with child.

6 ¶ So David sent word to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 And when Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war progressed.

8 Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. And Uriah left of the king’s house, and a gift from the king followed him.

9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all his master’s servants, and did not go down to his house.

10 And when they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why then did you not go down to your house?

11 And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants 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? as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.

12 And David said to Uriah, Remain here today, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the next.

13 And when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk: and in the evening he went out to lie on his cot with the servants of his lord, but did not go down to his house.

14 ¶ In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 And he said in the letter, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and withdraw from him, so that he will be struck down and die.

16 So when Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah a place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were.

17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and some of the servants of David fell there; and Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 Then Joab sent word telling David everything concerning the war;

19 And instructed the messenger, saying, After you have finished telling the king all the news about the war,

20 If the king gets angry, and he asks, Why did you get so close to the city when you fought? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall?

21 At Thebez, who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman throw a piece of a millstone down upon him from the wall, causing his death? why did you go so near the wall? Then you say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.

22 So the messenger left, and went and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

23 And the messenger said to David, The men gained an advantage over us, and came out to us in the field, and we backed them up to the entrance of the gate.

24 Then the archers shot down on your servants from the wall; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.

25 Then David said to the messenger, This is what you shall say to Joab, Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours all alike: intensify your fight against the city, and overthrow it: and you encourage him.

26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.

27 And when the mourning ended, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.