< 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 cometh to pass, at the revolution of the year — at the time of the going out of the messengers — that David sendeth Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroy the Bene-Ammon, and lay siege against Rabbah. And David is dwelling 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 cometh to pass, at evening-time, that David riseth from off his couch, and walketh up and down on the roof of the king's house, and seeth from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman [is] of very good appearance,
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 sendeth and inquireth about the woman, and saith, '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 sendeth messengers, and taketh her, and she cometh unto him, and he lieth with her — and she is purifying herself from her uncleanness — and she turneth back unto 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 conceiveth, and sendeth, and declareth to David, and saith, 'I [am] conceiving.'
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 sendeth unto Joab, 'Send unto me Uriah the Hittite,' and Joab sendeth 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 Uriah cometh unto him, and David asketh of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war.
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 saith to Uriah, 'Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet;' and Uriah goeth out of the king's house, and there goeth out after him a gift from the king,
9 But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guards.
and Uriah lieth down at the opening of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and hath not gone down unto 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 declare to David, saying, 'Uriah hath not gone down unto his house;' and David saith unto Uriah, 'Hast thou not come from a journey? wherefore hast thou not gone down unto 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 Uriah saith unto David, 'The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in booths, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, on the face of the field are encamping; and I — I go in unto my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife! — thy life, and the life of thy soul — if I 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 saith unto Uriah, 'Abide in this [place] also to-day, and to-morrow I send thee away;' and Uriah abideth in Jerusalem, on that day, and on 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 calleth for him, and he eateth before him, and drinketh, and he causeth him to drink, and he goeth out in the evening to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, and unto his house he hath not gone 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 it cometh to pass in the morning, that David writeth a letter unto Joab, and sendeth 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 writeth in the letter, saying, 'Place ye Uriah over-against the front of the severest battle, and ye have turned back from after him, and he hath been smitten, and hath died.'
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 cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men [are];
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 go out and fight with Joab, and there fall [some] of the people, of the servants of David; and there dieth also Uriah the Hittite.
18 Then Joab sent a messenger to David to tell him about the fighting.
And Joab sendeth and declareth to David all the matters of the war,
19 He said to the messenger, “Tell David the news about the battle. After you finish telling that to him,
and commandeth the messenger, saying, 'At thy finishing all the matters of the war to speak 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, it hath been, if the king's fury ascend, and he hath said to thee, Wherefore did ye draw nigh unto the city to fight? did ye not know that they 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 Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast on him a piece of a rider from the wall, and he dieth in Thebez? why drew ye nigh unto the wall? that thou hast said, Also thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'
22 So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab told him to say.
And the messenger goeth, and cometh in, and declareth to David all that with which Joab sent 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 saith unto David, 'Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out unto us into the field, and we are upon them unto 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.”
and those shooting shoot at thy servants from off the wall, and [some] of the servants of the king are dead, and also, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is 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 saith unto the messenger, 'Thus dost thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing be evil in thine eyes; for thus and thus doth the sword devour; strengthen thy warfare against the city, and throw it down — and strengthen thou him.'
26 When Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him.
And the wife of Uriah heareth that Uriah her husband [is] dead, and lamenteth for 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 the mourning passeth by, and David sendeth and gathereth her unto his house, and she is to him for a wife, and beareth to him a son; and the thing which David hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah.

< 2 Samuel 11 >