2 Samuel 11

1 [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.

And it came to pass when the time o the year for kings going out [to battle] had come round, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbath: but David remained at Jerusalem.

2 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.

And it came to pass toward evening, that David arose off his couch, and walked on the roof of the king's house, and saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

3 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.”

And David sent and enquired about the woman: and [one] said, [Is] not this Bersabee the daughter of Eliab, the wife of Urias the Chettite?

4 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.

And David sent messengers, and took her, and went in to her, and he lay with her: and she was purified from her uncleanness, and returned to her house.

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

And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

6 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.

And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Urias the Chettite; and Joab sent Urias to David.

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

And Urias arrived and went in to him, and David asked him how Joab was, and how the people were, and how the war went on.

8 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.

And David said to Urias, Go to thy house, and wash thy feet: and Urias departed from the house of the king, and a portion [of meat] from the king followed him.

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

And Urias slept at the door of the king with the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

10 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]

And they brought David word, saying, Urias has not gone down to his house. And David said to Urias, Art thou not come from a journey? why hast thou not gone down to thy house?

11 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!”

And Urias said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Juda dwell in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; and shall I go into my house to eat and drink, and lie with my wife? how [should I do this? as] thy soul lives, I will not do this thing.

12 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.

And David said to Urias, Remain here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee go. So Urias remained in Jerusalem that day and the day following.

13 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.

And David called him, and he ate before him and drank, and he made him drunk: and he went out in the evening to lie upon his bed with the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

14 [Someone reported that to] David, [so] the next morning he wrote a letter to Joab, and gave it to Uriah to take to Joab.

And the morning came, and David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Urias.

15 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].”

And he wrote in the letter, saying, Station Urias in front of the severe [part] of the fight, and retreat from behind him, so shall he be wounded and die.

16 [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.

And it came to pass while Joab was watching against the city, that he set Urias in a place where he knew that valiant men were.

17 The men from the city came out and fought with Joab’s soldiers. They killed some of David’s officers, including Uriah.

And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Urias the Chettite died also.

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

And Joab sent, and reported to David all the events of the war, so as to tell them to the king.

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

And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast finished reporting all the events of the war to the king,

20 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]?

then it shall come to pass if the anger of the king shall arise, and he shall say to thee, Why did ye draw nigh to the city to fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from off the wall?

21 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.’”

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerobaal son of Ner? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from above the wall, and he died in Thamasi? why did ye draw near to the wall? then thou shalt say, Thy servant Urias the Chettite is also dead.

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

And the messenger of Joab went to the king to Jerusalem, and he came and reported to David all that Joab told him, all the affairs of the war. And David was very angry with Joab, and said to the messenger, Why did ye draw nigh to the wall to fight? knew ye not that ye would be wounded from off the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerobaal? did not a woman cast upon him a piece of millstone from the wall, and he died in Thamasi? why did ye draw near to the wall?

23 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.

And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and they came out against us into the field, and we came upon them even to the door of the gate.

24 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.”

And the archers shot at thy servants from off the wall, and some of the king's servants died, and thy servant Urias the Chettite is dead also.

25 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.”

And David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to Joab, Let not the matter be grievous in thine eyes, for the sword devours one way at one time and another way at another: strengthen thine array against the city, and destroy it, and strengthen him.

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

And the wife of Urias heard that Urias her husband was dead, and she mourned for her husband.

27 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.

And the time of mourning expired, and David sent and took her into his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son: but the thing which David did was evil in the eyes of the Lord.