2 Samuel 11

1 And it was to [the] return of the year to [the] time of - [the] going out of (messengers *LBH(a+C)*) and he sent David Joab and servants his with him and all Israel and they destroyed [the] people of Ammon and they laid siege on Rabbah and David [was] remaining 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 And it was - to [the] time of the evening and he arose David from on bed his and he walked about on [the] roof of [the] house of the king and he saw a woman bathing from on the roof and the woman [was] good of appearance very.

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 And he sent David and he enquired of the woman and he said ¿ not [is] this Bath-sheba [the] daughter of Eliam [the] 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 And he sent David messengers and he took her and she came to him and he lay with her and she [was] purifying herself from uncleanness her and she returned to house her.

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 And she conceived the woman and she sent and she told to David and she said [am] pregnant I.

[After some time], she realized that she was pregnant. So she sent a messenger to tell David [that she was pregnant].

6 And he sent David to Joab send to me Uriah the Hittite and he sent Joab Uriah 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 And he came Uriah to him and he asked David to [the] welfare of Joab and to [the] welfare of the people and to [the] welfare of the battle.

When he arrived, David asked if Joab was well, and if other soldiers were well, and how the war was progressing.

8 And he said David to Uriah go down to house your and wash feet your and he went out Uriah from [the] house of the king and it went out after him [the] gift of the king.

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 And he lay down Uriah [the] entrance of [the] house of the king with all [the] servants of lord his and not he went down to house his.

But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guards.

10 And people told to David saying not he has gone down Uriah to house his and he said David to Uriah ¿ not from a journey [are] you coming why? not have you gone down to house your.

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 And he said Uriah to David the ark and Israel and Judah [are] dwelling in booths and lord my Joab and [the] servants of lord my on [the] face of the open country [are] encamping and I will I go? to house my to eat and to drink and to lie with wife my [by] [the] life of you and [by] [the] life of self your if I will do the thing this.

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 And he said David to Uriah remain in this [place] also this day and tomorrow I will let go you and he remained Uriah in Jerusalem on the day that and from [the] next day.

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 And he summoned him David and he ate before him and he drank and he made drunk him and he went out in the evening to lie down on bed his with [the] servants of lord his and to house his not he went down.

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 And it was in the morning and he wrote David a letter to Joab and he sent [it] by [the] hand of Uriah.

[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 And he wrote in the letter saying set Uriah to [the] front of [the] face of the battle severe and you will turn back from after him and he will be struck down and he will die.

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 And it was when watched Joab against the city and he put Uriah to the place where he knew that men of strength [were] there.

[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 And they went out [the] men of the city and they fought with Joab and it fell some of the people some of [the] servants of David and he died also 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 And he sent Joab and he told to David all [the] matters of the battle.

Then Joab sent a messenger to David to tell him about the fighting.

19 And he commanded the messenger saying when finishing you all [the] matters of the battle to speak to the king.

He said to the messenger, “Tell David the news about the battle. After you finish telling that to him,

20 And it will be if it will rise [the] anger of the king and he will say to you why? did you draw near to the city to fight ¿ not did you know this: they will shoot from on 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? did he strike down Abimelech [the] son of Jerub-Besheth ¿ not a woman did she throw on him a mill-stone an upper mill-stone from on the wall and he died in Thebez why? did you draw near to the wall and you will say also servant your Uriah the Hittite he has died.

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 And he went the messenger and he came and he told to David all that he had sent him Joab.

So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab told him to say.

23 And he said the messenger to David for they prevailed over us the men and they came out against us the open country and we were on them to [the] entrance of the 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 (And they shot arrows *Q(K)*) (the archers *Q(k)*) to servants your from on the wall and they have died some of [the] servants of the king and also servant your Uriah the Hittite he has died.

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 And he said David to the messenger thus you will say to Joab may not it be displeasing in view your the thing this that like this and like this it devours the sword strengthen battle your against the city and tear down it and encourage him.

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 And she heard [the] wife of Uriah that he had died Uriah husband her and she mourned on husband her.

When Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him.

27 And it passed the mourning and he sent David and he gathered her to house his and she became of him a wife and she bore to him a son and it was displeasing the thing which he had done David in [the] eyes of Yahweh.

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.