2 USamuyeli 11
1 Kwasekusithi ekuthwaseni komnyaka ngesikhathi amakhosi aphuma ngaso impi, uDavida wathuma uJowabi lenceku zakhe kanye laye loIsrayeli wonke; basebechitha abantwana bakoAmoni, bavimbezela iRaba. Kodwa uDavida wahlala eJerusalema.
[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 Kwasekusithi ngesikhathi sakusihlwa uDavida wavuka embhedeni wakhe, wahambahamba phezu kophahla lwendlu yenkosi; esephahleni wasebona owesifazana egeza; njalo owesifazana wayemuhle kakhulu, ebukeka.
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 UDavida wasethuma wabuza ngalowowesifazana. Kwasekuthiwa: Lo kakusuye uBathisheba yini, indodakazi kaEliyamu, umkaUriya umHethi?
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 UDavida wasethuma izithunywa wamthatha, owesifazana weza kuye, walala laye (ngoba wayehlanjululiwe ekungcoleni kwakhe), wasebuyela endlini yakhe.
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 Owesifazana wasethatha isisu, wathumela watshela uDavida wathi: Sengilesisu.
[After some time], she realized that she was pregnant. So she sent a messenger to tell David [that she was pregnant].
6 UDavida wasethumela kuJowabi wathi: Thumela kimi uUriya umHethi. UJowabi wasethumela uUriya kuDavida.
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 Esefikile kuye uUriya, uDavida wambuza ngempilakahle kaJowabi langempilakahle yabantu langempumelelo yempi.
When he arrived, David asked if Joab was well, and if other soldiers were well, and how the war was progressing.
8 UDavida wasesithi kuUriya: Yehlela endlini yakho, ugeze inyawo zakho. U-Uriya wasephuma endlini yenkosi; kwasekulandela emva kwakhe isipho esivela enkosini.
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 Kodwa uUriya walala emnyango wendlu yenkosi kanye lenceku zonke zenkosi yakhe, kehlelanga endlini yakhe.
But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guards.
10 Kwathi sebemtshelile uDavida besithi: U-Uriya kehlelanga endlini yakhe, uDavida wathi kuUriya: Kawuveli ekuhambeni yini? Kungani ungehlelanga endlini yakho?
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 U-Uriya wasesithi kuDavida: Umtshokotsho, loIsrayeli, loJuda kuhlala emathenteni; lenkosi yami uJowabi lenceku zenkosi yami bamisile inkamba endle; mina-ke ngizangena endlini yami yini ukuyakudla lokuyanatha lokuyalala lomkami? Kuphila kwakho lokuphila komphefumulo wakho, kangisoze ngiyenze leyonto.
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 UDavida wasesithi kuUriya: Hlala lapha lalamuhla, kusasa-ke ngizakuvumela ukuthi uhambe. U-Uriya wasehlala eJerusalema ngalolosuku langosuku olulandelayo.
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 UDavida wasembiza ukuthi adle anathe phambi kwakhe, wamdakisa; njalo kusihlwa waphuma ukuyalala embhedeni wakhe kanye lenceku zenkosi yakhe, kodwa kehlelanga endlini yakhe.
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 Kwasekusithi ekuseni uDavida wabhalela uJowabi incwadi, wayithumela ngesandla sikaUriya.
[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 Wasebhala encwadini esithi: Misani uUriya phambili eqondene lokulwa okutshisayo kakhulu, beselihlehlela nyovane lisuka kuye, ukuze atshaywe afe.
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 Kwasekusithi lapho uJowabi esewukhangelisisile umuzi, wamisa uUriya endaweni azi ukuthi kulamaqhawe khona.
[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 Amadoda omuzi asephuma alwa loJowabi; kwawa abanye babantu, benceku zikaDavida; wafa laye uUriya umHethi.
The men from the city came out and fought with Joab’s soldiers. They killed some of David’s officers, including Uriah.
18 UJowabi wasethuma wambikela uDavida zonke indaba zempi;
Then Joab sent a messenger to David to tell him about the fighting.
19 wasilaya isithunywa esithi: Lapho usuqedile ukuyibikela inkosi zonke izindaba zempi,
He said to the messenger, “Tell David the news about the battle. After you finish telling that to him,
20 kuzakuthi-ke uba ulaka lwenkosi luvuka, isithi kuwe: Belisondelelani kangaka emzini ukulwa? Belingazi yini ukuthi bebezaciba besemdulini?
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 Ngubani owatshaya uAbhimeleki indodana kaJerubeshethi? Angithi owesifazana wamwisela ngocezu lwelitshe lokuchola ephezu komduli, waze wafa eThebezi? Lisondeleleni eduze lomduli? Ubususithi: Inceku yakho uUriya umHethi laye ufile.
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 Sasesihamba isithunywa, safika sambikela uDavida konke uJowabi ayesithume khona.
So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab told him to say.
23 Isithunywa sasesisithi kuDavida: Isibili, abantu basehlula, basiphumela egangeni; kodwa saba phezu kwabo kwaze kwaba semnyango wesango.
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 Abatshoki basebetshoka ezincekwini zakho bephezu komduli; zifile lezinye zenceku zenkosi; lenceku yakho uUriya umHethi ifile layo.
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 UDavida wasesithi kuso isithunywa: Uzakutsho njalo kuJowabi uthi: Le into kayingabimbi emehlweni akho, ngoba inkemba idla omunye njengomunye; qinisa impi yakho imelane lomuzi, uwuchithe; ubusumqinisa.
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 Lapho umkaUriya esezwile ukuthi uUriya indoda yakhe ufile, wayililela indoda yakhe.
When Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him.
27 Sekwedlulile ukulila, uDavida wathuma, wamletha endlini yakhe; wasesiba ngumkakhe, wamzalela indodana. Kodwa leyonto uDavida ayenzayo yayimbi emehlweni eNkosi.
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.
