Ii Samuelis 11
1 Factum est autem, vertente anno, eo tempore quo solent reges ad bella procedere, misit David Joab, et servos suos cum eo, et universum Israël, et vastaverunt filios Ammon, et obsederunt Rabba: David autem remansit in Jerusalem.
[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.
2 Dum hæc agerentur, accidit ut surgeret David de strato suo post meridiem, et deambularet in solario domus regiæ: viditque mulierem se lavantem ex adverso super solarium suum: erat autem mulier pulchra valde.
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.
3 Misit ergo rex, et requisivit quæ esset mulier. Nuntiatumque est ei quod ipsa esset Bethsabee filia Eliam, uxor Uriæ Hethæi.
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.”
4 Missis itaque David nuntiis, tulit eam: quæ cum ingressa esset ad illum, dormivit cum ea: statimque sanctificata est ab immunditia sua,
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.
5 et reversa est domum suam concepto fœtu. Mittensque nuntiavit David, et ait: Concepi.
[After some time], she realized that she was pregnant. So she sent a messenger to tell David [that she was pregnant].
6 Misit autem David ad Joab, dicens: Mitte ad me Uriam Hethæum. Misitque Joab Uriam ad David.
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.
7 Et venit Urias ad David. Quæsivitque David quam recte ageret Joab et populus, et quomodo administraretur bellum.
When he arrived, David asked if Joab was well, and if other soldiers were well, and how the war was progressing.
8 Et dixit David ad Uriam: Vade in domum tuam, et lava pedes tuos. Et egressus est Urias de domo regis, secutusque est eum cibus regius.
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.
9 Dormivit autem Urias ante portam domus regiæ cum aliis servis domini sui, et non descendit ad domum suam.
But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guards.
10 Nuntiatumque est David a dicentibus: Non ivit Urias in domum suam. Et ait David ad Uriam: Numquid non de via venisti? quare non descendisti in domum tuam?
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]
11 Et ait Urias ad David: Arca Dei et Israël et Juda habitant in papilionibus, et dominus meus Joab et servi domini mei super faciem terræ manent: et ego ingrediar domum meam, ut comedam et bibam, et dormiam cum uxore mea? Per salutem tuam, et per salutem animæ tuæ, non faciam rem hanc.
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!”
12 Ait ergo David ad Uriam: Mane hic etiam hodie, et cras dimittam te. Mansit Urias in Jerusalem in die illa et altera:
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.
13 et vocavit eum David ut comederet coram se et biberet, et inebriavit eum: qui egressus vespere, dormivit in strato suo cum servis domini sui, et in domum suam non descendit.
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.
14 Factum est ergo mane, et scripsit David epistolam ad Joab: misitque per manum Uriæ,
[Someone reported that to] David, [so] the next morning he wrote a letter to Joab, and gave it to Uriah to take to Joab.
15 scribens in epistola: Ponite Uriam ex adverso belli, ubi fortissimum est prælium: et derelinquite eum, ut percussus intereat.
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].”
16 Igitur cum Joab obsideret urbem, posuit Uriam in loco ubi sciebat viros esse fortissimos.
[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.
17 Egressique viri de civitate, bellabant adversum Joab, et ceciderunt de populo servorum David, et mortuus est etiam Urias Hethæus.
The men from the city came out and fought with Joab’s soldiers. They killed some of David’s officers, including Uriah.
18 Misit itaque Joab, et nuntiavit David omnia verba prælii:
Then Joab sent a messenger to David to tell him about the fighting.
19 præcepitque nuntio, dicens: Cum compleveris universos sermones belli ad regem,
He said to the messenger, “Tell David the news about the battle. After you finish telling that to him,
20 si eum videris indignari, et dixerit: Quare accessistis ad murum, ut præliaremini? an ignorabatis quod multa desuper ex muro tela mittantur?
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]?
21 Quis percussit Abimelech filium Jerobaal? nonne mulier misit super eum fragmen molæ de muro, et interfecit eum in Thebes? quare juxta murum accessistis? dices: Etiam servus tuus Urias Hethæus occubuit.
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.’”
22 Abiit ergo nuntius, et venit, et narravit David omnia quæ ei præceperat Joab.
So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab told him to say.
23 Et dixit nuntius ad David: Prævaluerunt adversum nos viri, et egressi sunt ad nos in agrum: nos autem facto impetu persecuti eos sumus usque ad portam civitatis.
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.
24 Et direxerunt jacula sagittarii ad servos tuos ex muro desuper, mortuique sunt de servis regis: quin etiam servus tuus Urias Hethæus mortuus est.
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.”
25 Et dixit David ad nuntium: Hæc dices Joab: Non te frangat ista res: varius enim eventus est belli, nunc hunc, et nunc illum consumit gladius: conforta bellatores tuos adversus urbem ut destruas eam, et exhortare eos.
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.”
26 Audivit autem uxor Uriæ quod mortuus esset Urias vir suus, et planxit eum.
When Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him.
27 Transacto autem luctu, misit David, et introduxit eam in domum suam, et facta est ei uxor, peperitque ei filium: et displicuit verbum hoc quod fecerat David, coram Domino.
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.
