David and Bathsheba

1And it came to pass at the return of the year,† at the time of the going out of the kings, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and laid siege against Rabbah. And David remained at Jerusalem.

2And it came to pass at the time of the evening, that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the house of the king. And he saw from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful of appearance. 3And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam,† the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4And David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (And she had cleansed herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. 5And the woman conceived. And she sent and told David and said, “I am pregnant.”

6And David sent to Joab: “Send to me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7And Uriah had come to him, and David asked of the welfare of Joab and of the welfare of the people, and of the welfare of the war. 8And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

And Uriah departed from the house of the king. And went out after him a gift from the king. 9And Uriah slept at the door of the house of the king with all the servants of his lord, and he did not go down to his house.

10And they declared to David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house.”

And David said to Uriah, “Is it not that you have come from a journey? Why did not you go down to your house?”

11And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents,† and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped on the face of the field, and I shall go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as lives your soul, I will not do this thing.”

12And David said to Uriah, “Wait in this place also today, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” And Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13And David called to him, and he ate before his face and drank, and he made him drunk. And he went out at the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord; and to his house he did not go down.

David Arranges Uriah’s Death

14And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah at the front of the strongest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”

16And it came to pass, in Joab watching unto the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that were valiant men there. 17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and fell some of the people of the servants of David. And Uriah the Hittite also died.

18And Joab sent and told David all the matters of the war, 19and he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the matters of the war to the king, 20and it comes to pass that if the wrath of the king rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you⁺ approach so near to the city when you fought? Did not you⁺ know that they would shoot from the wall? 21Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth?† Was it not a woman who cast on him a piece of a millstone from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you⁺ go near the wall?’

Then you shall say, ‘Also your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”

22And the messenger went and came in and told David all that Joab had sent him. 23And the messenger said to David, “Indeed the men prevailed against us, and they came out against us to the field, and we were against them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24And those shooting shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the servants of the king are dead, and also your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

25And David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for as this and as this the sword devours. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

David Marries Bathsheba

26And the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and she mourned for her husband. 27And her mourning was over, and David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore to him a son.

And the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of YHWH.