2 Samuel 11
1 In the spring, at the time of year when kings go out to war, David sent out Joab and his officers and the whole Israelite army on an attack. They massacred the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. However, David remained behind in Jerusalem.
[In that region], kings usually went [with their armies] to fight [their enemies] in the springtime. But the following year, in the springtime, David [did not do that. Instead, he] stayed in Jerusalem, and he sent [his commander] Joab [to lead the army]. So Joab went with the other officers and the rest of the Israeli army. They [crossed the Jordan River and] defeated the army of the Ammon people-group. Then they surrounded [their capital city, ] Rabbah.
2 Late one afternoon, David got up from taking a nap and was walking on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
Late one afternoon, after David got up from taking a nap, he walked around on the [flat] roof of his palace. He saw a woman who was bathing [in the courtyard of her house]. The woman was very beautiful.
3 David sent someone to find out about the woman. He was told, “It's Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
David sent a messenger to find out who she was. [The messenger returned] and said, “She is [RHQ] Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam, and her husband is Uriah, from the Heth people-group.”
4 David sent messengers to fetch her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had just purified herself from having her period.) Afterwards she went back home.
Then David sent more messengers to get her. They brought her to David, and he (slept/had sex) [EUP] with her. (She had just finished performing the rituals to make herself pure [after her monthly menstrual period].) Then Bathsheba went back home.
5 Bathsheba became pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him, “I'm pregnant.”
[After some time], she realized that she was pregnant. So she sent a messenger to tell David [that she was pregnant].
6 So David sent a message to Joab, telling him, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” Joab sent him to David.
Then David sent a message to Joab. He said, “Send Uriah, from the Heth people-group, to me.” So Joab did that. He sent Uriah to David.
7 When Uriah came to see him, David asked him how Joab was doing, and how the army was doing, and how the war was going.
When he arrived, David asked if Joab was well, and if other soldiers were well, and how the war was progressing.
8 Then David told Uriah, “Go home now and have a rest.” Uriah left the palace, and the king sent him a gift after he'd gone.
Then David, [hoping that Uriah would go home and sleep with his wife, ] said to Uriah, “Okay, go home and relax for a while. [IDM]” So Uriah left, and David gave someone a gift [of some food] to take to Uriah’s house.
9 But Uriah didn't go home. He slept in the guardroom at the palace entrance with all the king's guards.
But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guards.
10 David was told, “Uriah didn't go home,” so he asked Uriah, “Haven't you just got back from being away? Why didn't you go home?”
When someone told David that Uriah did not go to his house [that night], David [summoned him again and] said to him, “Why didn’t you go home [to be with your wife last night], after having been away for a long time?” [RHQ]
11 Uriah answered, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and my master Joab and his men are camped out in the open. How can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? On my life I won't do such a thing!”
Uriah replied, “The soldiers of Judah and Israel are camping in the open fields, and even our commander Joab is sleeping in a tent, and the sacred chest is with them. (How could I/It would not be right for me to) go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife [RHQ]. I solemnly declare [IDM] that I will never do such a thing!”
12 David told him, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I'll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next.
Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today. I will let you return [to the battle] tomorrow.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and that night.
13 David invited Uriah to dinner. Uriah ate and drank with him, and David got Uriah drunk. But in the evening he went to sleep on his mat with the king's guards, and didn't go home.
The next day, David invited him [to a meal]. So Uriah had a meal with David, and David made him drink a lot of wine so that he would get drunk, [hoping that if he was drunk, he would sleep with his wife]. But that night, Uriah again did not go home. Instead, he slept on his cot with the king’s servants.
14 In the morning David wrote Joab a letter, and gave it to Uriah to take to him.
[Someone reported that to] David, [so] the next morning he wrote a letter to Joab, and gave it to Uriah to take to Joab.
15 In the letter, David told Joab, “Put Uriah right in the front where the fighting is worst, and then pull back behind him so that he'll be attacked and killed.”
In the letter, he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is the (worst/most severe). Then command the soldiers to pull back from him, in order that he will be killed [by our enemies].”
16 As Joab besieged the town, he made Uriah take a place where he knew the strongest enemy men would be fighting.
[So after] Joab [got the letter], as his army was surrounding the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew that their enemies’ strongest and best soldiers would be fighting.
17 When the town's defenders came out and attacked Joab, some of David's men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.
The men from the city came out and fought with Joab’s soldiers. They killed some of David’s officers, including Uriah.
18 Joab sent David a full report about the battle.
Then Joab sent a messenger to David to tell him about the fighting.
19 He ordered the messenger, saying, “When you've finished telling the king all about the battle,
He said to the messenger, “Tell David the news about the battle. After you finish telling that to him,
20 if the king's gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near to the town in the attack? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?
if David is angry [because so many officers were killed], he may ask you, ‘Why did your soldiers go so close to the city to fight [RHQ]? Did you not know that they would shoot [arrows at you while they were standing on top] of the city wall [RHQ]?
21 Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerub-Besheth? Wasn't it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall, killing him there in Thebez? Why on earth did you get so close to the wall?’ Just tell him, ‘In addition, your officer Uriah the Hittite was killed.’”
Do you not remember how Abimelech, the son of Gideon, was killed? A woman [who lived] in Thebez threw a huge (millstone/stone for grinding grain) on him from [the top of] tower, and he died. So why did your troops go near to the city wall?’ If the king asks this, then tell him, ‘Your officer Uriah also was killed.’”
22 The messenger left, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had directed him to say.
So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab told him to say.
23 The messenger explained to David, “The defenders were stronger than us, and they came out at us in the open, but we forced them back to the entrance of the town gate.
The messenger said to David, “Our enemies were very brave, and came out of the city to fight us in the fields. [They were defeating us] but we forced them back to the city gate.
24 Their archers shot at us from the wall, and killed some of the king's men. Your officer Uriah the Hittite was also killed.”
Then their archers shot arrows at us from [the top of] the city wall. They killed some of your officers. They killed your officer Uriah, too.”
25 Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab this: ‘Don't be upset about this, for the sword destroys people at random. Press on with your attack against the town and conquer it.’ Encourage him by telling him this.”
David said to the messenger, “Go back to Joab and say to him, ‘Do not be distressed [about what happened], because no one ever knows who will be killed in a battle.’ Tell him that the next time his troops should attack the city more strongly, and capture it.”
26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
When Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him.
27 Once the period of mourning was over, David sent for her to be brought to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done was evil in the Lord's sight.
When her time of mourning was ended, David sent messengers to bring her to the palace. Thus, she became David’s wife. She later gave birth to a son. But Yahweh was very displeased with what David had done.
