2 Samuel 11

1 Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his servants and all Israel with him; and they made waste the land of the children of Ammon, and took up their position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem.

And it comes to pass, at the revolution of the year—at the time of the going out of the messengers—that David sends Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroy the sons of Ammon, and lay siege against Rabbah, but David is dwelling in Jerusalem.

2 Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

And it comes to pass, at evening-time, that David rises from off his bed, and walks up and down on the roof of the king’s house, and sees a woman bathing from the roof, and the woman [is] of very good appearance,

3 And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?

and David sends and inquires about the woman, and [someone] says, “Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4 And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean; ) then she went back to her house.

And David sends messengers, and takes her, and she comes to him, and he lies with her—and she is purifying herself from her uncleanness—and she turns back to her house;

5 And the woman became with child; and she sent word to David that she was with child.

and the woman conceives, and sends, and declares [it] to David, and says, “I [am] conceiving.”

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

And David sends to Joab, [saying], “Send Uriah the Hittite to me,” and Joab sends Uriah to David;

7 And when Uriah came to him, David put questions to him about how Joab and the people were, and how the war was going.

and Uriah comes to him, and David asks of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war.

8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and let your feet be washed. And Uriah went away from the king's house, and an offering from the king was sent after him.

And David says to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet”; and Uriah goes out of the king’s house, and there goes out a gift from the king after him,

9 But Uriah took his rest at the door of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

and Uriah lies down at the opening of the king’s house, with all the servants of his lord, and has not gone down to his house.

10 And when word was given to David that Uriah had not gone down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why did you not go down to your house?

And they declare [it] to David, saying, “Uriah has not gone down to his house”; and David says to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house?”

11 And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing.

And Uriah says to David, “The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in shelters, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamping on the face of the field; and should I go to my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul—if I do this thing.”

12 And David said to Uriah, Be here today, and after that I will let you go. So Uriah was in Jerusalem that day and the day after.

And David says to Uriah, “Also abide in this [place] today, and tomorrow I send you away”; and Uriah abides in Jerusalem on that day and on the next day,

13 And when David sent for him, he took meat and drink with him, and David made him the worse for drink: and when evening came, he went to rest on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

and David calls for him, and he eats before him, and drinks, and he causes him to drink, and he goes out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and he has not gone down to his house.

14 Now in the morning, David gave Uriah a letter to take to Joab.

And it comes to pass in the morning that David writes a letter to Joab and sends [it] by the hand of Uriah;

15 And in the letter he said, Take care to put Uriah in the very front of the line, where the fighting is most violent, and go back from him, so that he may be overcome and put to death.

and he writes in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in front of the face of the most severe battle, and you have turned back from after him, and he has been struck, and has died.”

16 So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in the place where it was clear to him the best fighters were.

And it comes to pass in Joab’s watching of the city, that he appoints Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men [were];

17 And the men of the town went out and had a fight with Joab: and a number of David's men came to their death in the fight, and with them Uriah the Hittite.

and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and [some] of the people, from the servants of David, fall; and Uriah the Hittite also dies.

18 Then Joab sent David news of everything which had taken place in the war:

And Joab sends and declares to David all the matters of the war,

19 And he gave orders to the man who took the news, saying, After you have given the king all the news about the war,

and commands the messenger, saying, “At your finishing all the matters of the war to speak to the king,

20 If the king is angry and says, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall?

then, it has been, if the king’s fury ascends, and he has said to you, Why did you draw near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they shoot from off the wall?

21 Who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall? Then say to him, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is among the dead.

Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not cast a piece of a rider from the wall on him, and he dies in Thebez? Why did you draw near to the wall? That you have said, Also—your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

22 So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all the news which Joab had sent him to give; then David was angry with Joab and said, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall? who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall?

And the messenger goes, and comes in, and declares to David all that with which Joab sent him,

23 And the man said to David, Truly the men got the better of us, and came out against us into the open country, but we sent them back to the very doors of the town.

and the messenger says to David, “Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out to us into the field, and we are on them to the opening of the gate,

24 And the archers sent their arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's servants are dead, and among them is your servant Uriah the Hittite.

and those shooting shoot at your servants from off the wall, and [some] of the servants of the king are dead, and also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

25 Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.

And David says to the messenger, “Thus you say to Joab, Do not let this thing be evil in your eyes; for thus and thus the sword devours; strengthen your warfare against the city, and throw it down; so you strengthen him.”

26 And when the wife of Uriah had news that her husband was dead, she gave herself up to weeping for him.

And the wife of Uriah hears that her husband Uriah [is] dead, and laments for her lord;

27 And when the days of weeping were past, David sent for her, and took her into his house, and she became his wife and gave him a son. But the Lord was not pleased with the thing David had done.

and the mourning passes by, and David sends and gathers her to his house, and she is to him for a wife, and bears a son to him; and the thing which David has done is evil in the eyes of YHWH.