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.
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.
2 Kwasekusithi ngesikhathi sakusihlwa uDavida wavuka embhedeni wakhe, wahambahamba phezu kophahla lwendlu yenkosi; esephahleni wasebona owesifazana egeza; njalo owesifazana wayemuhle kakhulu, ebukeka.
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.
3 UDavida wasethuma wabuza ngalowowesifazana. Kwasekuthiwa: Lo kakusuye uBathisheba yini, indodakazi kaEliyamu, umkaUriya umHethi?
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?”
4 UDavida wasethuma izithunywa wamthatha, owesifazana weza kuye, walala laye (ngoba wayehlanjululiwe ekungcoleni kwakhe), wasebuyela endlini yakhe.
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.
5 Owesifazana wasethatha isisu, wathumela watshela uDavida wathi: Sengilesisu.
The woman conceived, and she sent and told David; she said, “I am pregnant.”
6 UDavida wasethumela kuJowabi wathi: Thumela kimi uUriya umHethi. UJowabi wasethumela uUriya kuDavida.
Then David sent to Joab saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 Esefikile kuye uUriya, uDavida wambuza ngempilakahle kaJowabi langempilakahle yabantu langempumelelo yempi.
When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab was, how the army was doing, and how the war was going.
8 UDavida wasesithi kuUriya: Yehlela endlini yakho, ugeze inyawo zakho. U-Uriya wasephuma endlini yenkosi; kwasekulandela emva kwakhe isipho esivela enkosini.
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.
9 Kodwa uUriya walala emnyango wendlu yenkosi kanye lenceku zonke zenkosi yakhe, kehlelanga endlini yakhe.
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.
10 Kwathi sebemtshelile uDavida besithi: U-Uriya kehlelanga endlini yakhe, uDavida wathi kuUriya: Kawuveli ekuhambeni yini? Kungani ungehlelanga endlini yakho?
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?”
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 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.”
12 UDavida wasesithi kuUriya: Hlala lapha lalamuhla, kusasa-ke ngizakuvumela ukuthi uhambe. U-Uriya wasehlala eJerusalema ngalolosuku langosuku olulandelayo.
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.
13 UDavida wasembiza ukuthi adle anathe phambi kwakhe, wamdakisa; njalo kusihlwa waphuma ukuyalala embhedeni wakhe kanye lenceku zenkosi yakhe, kodwa kehlelanga endlini yakhe.
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.
14 Kwasekusithi ekuseni uDavida wabhalela uJowabi incwadi, wayithumela ngesandla sikaUriya.
So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 Wasebhala encwadini esithi: Misani uUriya phambili eqondene lokulwa okutshisayo kakhulu, beselihlehlela nyovane lisuka kuye, ukuze atshaywe afe.
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.”
16 Kwasekusithi lapho uJowabi esewukhangelisisile umuzi, wamisa uUriya endaweni azi ukuthi kulamaqhawe khona.
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.
17 Amadoda omuzi asephuma alwa loJowabi; kwawa abanye babantu, benceku zikaDavida; wafa laye uUriya umHethi.
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.
18 UJowabi wasethuma wambikela uDavida zonke indaba zempi;
When Joab sent word to David about everything concerning the war,
19 wasilaya isithunywa esithi: Lapho usuqedile ukuyibikela inkosi zonke izindaba zempi,
he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king,
20 kuzakuthi-ke uba ulaka lwenkosi luvuka, isithi kuwe: Belisondelelani kangaka emzini ukulwa? Belingazi yini ukuthi bebezaciba besemdulini?
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?
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.
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.'”
22 Sasesihamba isithunywa, safika sambikela uDavida konke uJowabi ayesithume khona.
So the messenger left and went to David and told him everything that Joab had sent him to say.
23 Isithunywa sasesisithi kuDavida: Isibili, abantu basehlula, basiphumela egangeni; kodwa saba phezu kwabo kwaze kwaba semnyango wesango.
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.
24 Abatshoki basebetshoka ezincekwini zakho bephezu komduli; zifile lezinye zenceku zenkosi; lenceku yakho uUriya umHethi ifile layo.
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.”
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.
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.”
26 Lapho umkaUriya esezwile ukuthi uUriya indoda yakhe ufile, wayililela indoda yakhe.
So when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented deeply for her husband.
27 Sekwedlulile ukulila, uDavida wathuma, wamletha endlini yakhe; wasesiba ngumkakhe, wamzalela indodana. Kodwa leyonto uDavida ayenzayo yayimbi emehlweni eNkosi.
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.
