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 at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth to war, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they spoiled the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabba: but David remained in 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.

In the mean time it happened that David arose from his bed after noon, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and he saw from the roof of his house a woman washing herself, over against him: and the woman was very beautiful.

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 the king sent, and inquired who the woman was. And it was told him, that she was Bethsabee the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Urias the Hethite.

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 she came in to him, and he slept with her: and presently she was purified from her uncleanness:

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

And she returned to her house having conceived. And she sent and told David, and said: I have conceived.

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 Hethite. 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 came to David. And David asked how Joab did, and the people, and how the war was carried 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 into thy house, and wash thy feet. And Urias went out from the king’s house, and there went out after him a mess of meat from the king.

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

But Urias slept before the gate of the king’s house, with the other servants of his lord, and went not down to his own 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 it was told David by some that said: Urias went not to his house. And David said to Urias: Didst thou not come from thy journey? why didst thou not go 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 of God and Israel and Juda dwell in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord abide upon the face of the earth: and shall I go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to sleep with my wife? By thy welfare and by the welfare of thy soul 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.

Then David said to Urias: Tarry here today, and tomorrow I will send thee away. Urias tarried in Jerusalem that day and the next.

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 to eat and to drink before him, and he made him drunk: and he went out in the evening, and slept on his couch with the servants of his lord, and went not down into 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 when the morning was come, 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].”

Writing in the letter: Set ye Urias in the front of the battle, where the fight is strongest: and leave ye him, that he may 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.

Wherefore as Joab was besieging the city, he put Urias in the place where he knew the bravest 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 coming out of the city, fought against Joab, and there fell some of the people of the servants of David, and Urias the Hethite was killed also.

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

Then Joab sent, and told David all things concerning the battle.

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 told all the words of the battle 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]?

If thou see him to be angry, and he shall say: Why did you approach so near to the wall to fight? knew you not that many darts are thrown from above 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 killed Abimelech the son of Jerobaal? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, and slew him in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? Thou shalt say: Thy servant Urias the Hethite is also slain.

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

So the messenger departed, and came and told David all that Joab had commanded him.

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 to us into the field: and we vigorously charged and pursued them even to the gate of the city.

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 their arrows at thy servants from off the wall above: and some of the king’s servants are slain, and thy servant Urias the Hethite is also dead.

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 this thing discourage thee: for various is the event of war: and sometimes one, sometimes another is consumed by the sword: encourage thy warriors against The city, and exhort them that thou mayest overthrow it.

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 him.

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 mourning being over, David sent and brought her into his house, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son: and this thing which David had done, was displeasing to the Lord.