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 of the going forth of kings, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon, and laid siege to Rabbah, —but, David, was remaining 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.

And it came to pass that, at eventide, David arose from his couch, and walked to and fro on the roof of the king’s house, when, from the roof, he saw a woman bathing herself, —the woman being exceeding 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 after the woman, —and one said—Is not, this, Bath-sheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?

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 fetched her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, she having purified herself from her uncleanness, —and she returned unto her own 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, having conceived, 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.

Then sent David unto Joab, Send unto me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent Uriah unto David.

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

And, when Uriah had come in unto him, David asked—how Joab prospered, and how the people prospered, and how the war prospered.

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.

Then said David unto Uriah, Go down unto thy house, and bathe thy feet. And, when Uriah went out of the house of the king, there followed him, a present from the king.

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

But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house, with all the servants of his lord, —and went not down unto 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, saying, Uriah went not down, unto his own house. So David said unto Uriah—Was it not, from a journey, thou didst come? why, then, hast thou not been down unto thine own 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 Uriah said unto David—The ark, and Israel and Judah, are dwelling in huts and, my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, on the face of the field, are encamped, Was, I, then, to enter my own house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By thy life, yea by the life of thy soul, I could 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 said David unto Uriah—Abide here to-day also, and, to-morrow, will I let thee go. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

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 did eat before him, and drank, and he made him drunk, —and he went forth in the evening to lie down on his bed, with the servants of his lord, but, unto his own house, went he not down.

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 so it was, in the morning, that David wrote a letter unto Joab, —and sent it by the hand of Uriah;

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, —Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he be smitten 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.

So it came to pass, when Joab was laying siege to the city, that he put Uriah in the place where he knew that the men of valour, 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 forth sallied the men of the city, and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people, of the servants of David, —then died also, Uriah the Hittite.

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

So Joab sent and told David all the news of 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 ended all the news of the battle, in speaking unto 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 shall it be, if the king’s anger arise, and he say unto thee, Why came ye near unto 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 son of Jerubbaal? Did not, a woman, cast on him an upper millstone from off the wall, that he died, in Thebez? Wherefore came ye near unto the wall? Then shalt thou say—Moreover, thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, died.

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

And the messenger went his way, —and came in, and told David, all that Joab had sent him [to tell].

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 unto David, The men were too strong for us, and sallied forth against us, in the field, —so we were drawn against them as far as the opening 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.”

Then did the archers shoot upon thy servants, from off the wall, and there died some of the servants of the king, —moreover also, thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, died.

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.”

Then said David unto the messenger—Thus, shalt thou say unto Joab, —Let not this thing be grievous in thine eyes, for, now this one, and then that one, doth the sword devour, —make hot thy battle against the city, and overthrow it; Thus embolden thou him.

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

And, when Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made loud lamentation over her lord.

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, when the time of mourning had passed, David sent and received her into his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing which David had done was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh.