2 Samuel 11

1 and to be to/for turn [the] year to/for time to come out: come ([the] messenger *LBH(a+C)*) and to send: depart David [obj] Joab and [obj] servant/slave his with him and [obj] all Israel and to ruin [obj] son: descendant/people Ammon and to confine upon Rabbah and David to dwell in/on/with 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 to be to/for time [the] evening and to arise: rise David from upon bed his and to go: walk upon roof house: home [the] king and to see: see woman to wash: wash from upon [the] roof and [the] woman pleasant appearance much

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 to send: depart David and to seek to/for woman and to say not this Bathsheba Bathsheba daughter Eliam woman: wife 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 to send: depart David messenger and to take: take her and to come (in): come to(wards) him and to lie down: lay down with her and he/she/it to consecrate: consecate from uncleanness her and to return: return to(wards) house: home 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 to conceive [the] woman and to send: depart and to tell to/for David and to say 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 to send: depart David to(wards) Joab to send: depart to(wards) me [obj] Uriah [the] Hittite and to send: depart Joab [obj] Uriah to(wards) 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 to come (in): come Uriah to(wards) him and to ask David to/for peace: greeting Joab and to/for peace: greeting [the] people and to/for peace: greeting [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 to say David to/for Uriah to go down to/for house: home your and to wash: wash foot your and to come out: come Uriah from house: home [the] king and to come out: come after him tribute [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 to lie down: sleep Uriah entrance house: home [the] king with all servant/slave lord his and not to go down to(wards) house: home his

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

10 and to tell to/for David to/for to say not to go down Uriah to(wards) house: home his and to say David to(wards) Uriah not from way: journey you(m. s.) to come (in): come why? not to go down to(wards) house: home 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 to say Uriah to(wards) David [the] ark and Israel and Judah to dwell in/on/with booth and lord my Joab and servant/slave lord my upon face: surface [the] land: country to camp and I to come (in): come to(wards) house: home my to/for to eat and to/for to drink and to/for to lie down: lay down with woman: wife my alive your and alive soul your if: surely no to make: do [obj] [the] word: thing [the] 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 to say David to(wards) Uriah to dwell in/on/with this also [the] day and tomorrow to send: depart you and to dwell Uriah in/on/with Jerusalem in/on/with day [the] he/she/it and from morrow

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 to call: call to to/for him David and to eat to/for face: before his and to drink and be drunk him and to come out: come in/on/with evening to/for to lie down: lay down in/on/with bed his with servant/slave lord his and to(wards) house: home his not to go 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 to be in/on/with morning and to write David scroll: document to(wards) Joab and to send: depart in/on/with hand: power 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 to write in/on/with scroll: document to/for to say to give [obj] Uriah to(wards) opposite face: before [the] battle [the] strong and to return: return from after him and to smite and to 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 to be in/on/with to keep: look at Joab to(wards) [the] city and to give: put [obj] Uriah to(wards) [the] place which to know for human strength 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 to come out: come human [the] city and to fight with Joab and to fall: kill from [the] people from servant/slave David and to die 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 to send: depart Joab and to tell to/for David [obj] all word: deed [the] battle

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

19 and to command [obj] [the] messenger to/for to say like/as to end: finish you [obj] all word: deed [the] battle to/for to speak: speak to(wards) [the] king

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

20 and to be if to ascend: rise rage [the] king and to say to/for you why? to approach: approach to(wards) [the] city to/for to fight not to know [obj] which to shoot from upon [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? to smite [obj] Abimelech son: child Jerubbesheth not woman to throw upon him millstone chariot: millstone from upon [the] wall and to die in/on/with Thebez to/for what? to approach: approach to(wards) [the] wall and to say also servant/slave your Uriah [the] Hittite to die

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 to go: went [the] messenger and to come (in): come and to tell to/for David [obj] all which to send: depart him Joab

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

23 and to say [the] messenger to(wards) David for to prevail upon us [the] human and to come out: come to(wards) us [the] land: country and to be upon them till entrance [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 to shoot *Q(K)*) ([the] to shoot *Q(k)*) to(wards) servant/slave your from upon [the] wall and to die from servant/slave [the] king and also servant/slave your Uriah [the] Hittite to die

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 to say David to(wards) [the] messenger thus to say to(wards) Joab not be evil in/on/with eye: appearance your [obj] [the] word: thing [the] this for like/as this and like/as this to eat [the] sword to strengthen: strengthen battle your to(wards) [the] city and to overthrow her and to strengthen: strengthen 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 to hear: hear woman: wife Uriah for to die Uriah man: husband her and to mourn upon master: husband her

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

27 and to pass [the] mourning and to send: depart David and to gather her to(wards) house: home his and to be to/for him to/for woman: wife and to beget to/for him son: child and be evil [the] word: thing which to make: do David in/on/with eye: appearance LORD

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.