2 Samuel 11
1 And when the yeere was expired in the time when Kinges goe forth to battell, Dauid sent Ioab, and his seruantes with him, and all Israel, who destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but Dauid remayned in Ierusalem.
It came about in the springtime, at the time when kings normally go to war, that David sent out Joab, his servants, and all the army of Israel. They destroyed the army of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
2 And when it was euening tide, Dauid arose out of his bed, and walked vpon the roofe of the Kings palace: and from the roofe he sawe a woman washing her selfe: and the woman was very beautifull to looke vpon.
So it came about one evening that David got up from his bed and walked on the roof of his palace. From there he happened to see a woman who was bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.
3 And Dauid sent and inquired what woman it was: and one sayde, Is not this Bath-sheba the daughter of Eliam, wife to Vriah the Hittite?
So David sent and he asked people who would know about the woman. Someone said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and is she not the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 Then Dauid sent messengers, and tooke her away: and she came vnto him and he lay with her: (now she was purified from her vncleannes) and she returned vnto her house.
David sent messengers and took her; she came in to him, and he slept with her (for she had just purified herself from menstruation). Then she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceiued: therefore shee sent and tolde Dauid, and sayd, I am with childe.
The woman conceived, and she sent and told David; she said, “I am pregnant.”
6 Then Dauid sent to Ioab, saying, Send me Vriah the Hittite. And Ioab sent Vriah to Dauid.
Then David sent to Joab saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Vriah came vnto him, Dauid demanded him how Ioab did, and howe the people fared, and how the warre prospered.
When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab was, how the army was doing, and how the war was going.
8 Afterward Dauid said to Vriah, Go downe to thine house, and wash thy feete. So Vriah departed out of the Kings palace, and the king sent a present after him.
David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the king's palace, and the king sent a gift for Uriah after he left.
9 But Vriah slept at the doore of the Kings palace with all the seruants of his lord, and went not downe to his house.
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's palace with all the servants of his master, and he did not go down to his house.
10 Then they tolde Dauid, saying, Vriah went not downe to his house: and Dauid saide vnto Vriah, Commest thou not from thy iourney? why didst thou not go downe to thine house?
When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11 Then Vriah answered Dauid, The Arke and Israel, and Iudah dwell in tents: and my lord Ioab and the seruants of my lord abide in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to eate and drinke, and lie with my wife? by thy life, and by the life of thy soule, I will not do this thing.
Uriah answered David, “The ark, and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my master's servants are camped in an open field. How then can I go into my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As sure as you are alive, I will not do this.”
12 Then Dauid sayd vnto Vriah, Tary yet this day, and to morow I will send thee away. So Vriah abode in Ierusalem that day, and the morowe.
So David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.
13 Then Dauid called him, and hee did eate and drinke before him, and he made him drunke: and at euen he went out to lie on his couch with the seruants of his Lord, but went not downe to his house.
When David called him, he ate and drank before him, and David made him drunk. At evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his master; he did not go down to his house.
14 And on the morowe Dauid wrote a letter to Ioab, and sent it by the hand of Vriah.
So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote thus in the letter, Put ye Vriah in the forefront of the strength of the battell, and recule ye backe from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
David wrote in the letter saying, “Set Uriah at the very front of the most intense battle, and then withdraw from him, that he may be hit and killed.”
16 So when Ioab besieged the citie, he assigned Vriah vnto a place, where he knewe that strong men were.
So as Joab watched the siege upon the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers would be fighting.
17 And the men of the citie came out, and fought with Ioab: and there fell of the people of the seruants of Dauid, and Vriah the Hittite also dyed.
When the men of the city went out and fought against Joab's army, some of the soldiers of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite was also killed there.
18 Then Ioab sent and tolde Dauid all the things concerning the warre,
When Joab sent word to David about everything concerning the war,
19 And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an ende of telling all the matters of the warre vnto the King,
he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king,
20 And if the kings anger arise, so that he say vnto thee, Wherefore approched ye vnto the citie to fight? knewe ye not that they would hurle from the wall?
it may happen that the king will become angry, and he will say to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech sonne of Ierubesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a milstone vpon him from the wall, and he died in Thebez? why went you nie the wall? Then say thou, Thy seruant Vriah the Hittite is also dead.
Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' Then you must answer, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'”
22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed Dauid all that Ioab had sent him for.
So the messenger left and went to David and told him everything that Joab had sent him to say.
23 And the messenger said vnto Dauid, Certainely the men preuailed against vs, and came out vnto vs into the field, but we pursued them vnto the entring of the gate.
Then the messenger said to David, “The enemy were stronger than we were at first; they came out to us into the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.
24 But the shooters shot from ye wall against thy seruants, and some of the Kings seruants be dead: and thy seruant Vriah the Hittite is also dead.
Then their shooters shot at your soldiers from off the wall, and some of the king's servants were killed, and your servant Uriah the Hittite was killed too.”
25 Then Dauid said vnto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say vnto Ioab, Let not this thing trouble thee: for the sworde deuoureth one as well as another: make thy battell more strong against the citie and destroy it, and encourage thou him.
Then David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab, 'Do not let this displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle even stronger against the city, and overthrow it,' and encourage him.”
26 And when the wife of Vriah heard that her husband Vriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
So when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented deeply for her husband.
27 So when the mourning was past, Dauid sent and tooke her into his house, and shee became his wife, and bare him a sonne: but ye thing that Dauid had done, displeased the Lord.
When her sorrow passed, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done displeased Yahweh.
