2 Samuel 11

1 It came about in the springtime, at the time when kings normally go to war, that David sent out Joab, his servants, and all the army of Israel. They destroyed the army of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

And it comes to pass, at the revolution of the year—at the time of the going out of the messengers—that David sends Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroy the sons of Ammon, and lay siege against Rabbah, but David is dwelling in Jerusalem.

2 So it came about one evening that David got up from his bed and walked on the roof of his palace. From there he happened to see a woman who was bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.

And it comes to pass, at evening-time, that David rises from off his bed, and walks up and down on the roof of the king’s house, and sees a woman bathing from the roof, and the woman [is] of very good appearance,

3 So David sent and he asked people who would know about the woman. Someone said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and is she not the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

and David sends and inquires about the woman, and [someone] says, “Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4 David sent messengers and took her; she came in to him, and he slept with her (for she had just purified herself from menstruation). Then she returned to her house.

And David sends messengers, and takes her, and she comes to him, and he lies with her—and she is purifying herself from her uncleanness—and she turns back to her house;

5 The woman conceived, and she sent and told David; she said, “I am pregnant.”

and the woman conceives, and sends, and declares [it] to David, and says, “I [am] conceiving.”

6 Then David sent to Joab saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.

And David sends to Joab, [saying], “Send Uriah the Hittite to me,” and Joab sends Uriah to David;

7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab was, how the army was doing, and how the war was going.

and Uriah comes to him, and David asks of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war.

8 David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the king's palace, and the king sent a gift for Uriah after he left.

And David says to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet”; and Uriah goes out of the king’s house, and there goes out a gift from the king after him,

9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's palace with all the servants of his master, and he did not go down to his house.

and Uriah lies down at the opening of the king’s house, with all the servants of his lord, and has not gone down to his house.

10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

And they declare [it] to David, saying, “Uriah has not gone down to his house”; and David says to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house?”

11 Uriah answered David, “The ark, and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my master's servants are camped in an open field. How then can I go into my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As sure as you are alive, I will not do this.”

And Uriah says to David, “The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in shelters, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamping on the face of the field; and should I go to my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul—if I do this thing.”

12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.

And David says to Uriah, “Also abide in this [place] today, and tomorrow I send you away”; and Uriah abides in Jerusalem on that day and on the next day,

13 When David called him, he ate and drank before him, and David made him drunk. At evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his master; he did not go down to his house.

and David calls for him, and he eats before him, and drinks, and he causes him to drink, and he goes out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and he has not gone down to his house.

14 So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

And it comes to pass in the morning that David writes a letter to Joab and sends [it] by the hand of Uriah;

15 David wrote in the letter saying, “Set Uriah at the very front of the most intense battle, and then withdraw from him, that he may be hit and killed.”

and he writes in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in front of the face of the most severe battle, and you have turned back from after him, and he has been struck, and has died.”

16 So as Joab watched the siege upon the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers would be fighting.

And it comes to pass in Joab’s watching of the city, that he appoints Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men [were];

17 When the men of the city went out and fought against Joab's army, some of the soldiers of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite was also killed there.

and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and [some] of the people, from the servants of David, fall; and Uriah the Hittite also dies.

18 When Joab sent word to David about everything concerning the war,

And Joab sends and declares to David all the matters of the war,

19 he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king,

and commands the messenger, saying, “At your finishing all the matters of the war to speak to the king,

20 it may happen that the king will become angry, and he will say to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

then, it has been, if the king’s fury ascends, and he has said to you, Why did you draw near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they shoot from off the wall?

21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' Then you must answer, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'”

Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not cast a piece of a rider from the wall on him, and he dies in Thebez? Why did you draw near to the wall? That you have said, Also—your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

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

And the messenger goes, and comes in, and declares to David all that with which Joab sent him,

23 Then the messenger said to David, “The enemy were stronger than we were at first; they came out to us into the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

and the messenger says to David, “Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out to us into the field, and we are on them to the opening of the gate,

24 Then their shooters shot at your soldiers from off the wall, and some of the king's servants were killed, and your servant Uriah the Hittite was killed too.”

and those shooting shoot at your servants from off the wall, and [some] of the servants of the king are dead, and also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

25 Then David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab, 'Do not let this displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle even stronger against the city, and overthrow it,' and encourage him.”

And David says to the messenger, “Thus you say to Joab, Do not let this thing be evil in your eyes; for thus and thus the sword devours; strengthen your warfare against the city, and throw it down; so you strengthen him.”

26 So when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented deeply for her husband.

And the wife of Uriah hears that her husband Uriah [is] dead, and laments for her lord;

27 When her sorrow passed, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done displeased Yahweh.

and the mourning passes by, and David sends and gathers her to his house, and she is to him for a wife, and bears a son to him; and the thing which David has done is evil in the eyes of YHWH.