2 Samuel 11

1 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.

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

2 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,

One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.

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

So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

4 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;

Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

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

And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

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

At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

7 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.

When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing with the war.

8 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,

Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.

9 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.

But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

10 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?”

And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”

11 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.”

Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

12 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,

“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 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.

Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

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

The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

15 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.”

In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

16 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];

So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers.

17 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.

And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

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

Joab sent to David a full account of the battle

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

and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle,

20 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?

if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?

21 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.”

Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If so, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

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

So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.

23 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,

The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

24 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.”

Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

25 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.”

Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

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

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

27 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.

And when 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 that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.