| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. | 1In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. |
| 2Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. | 2One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. |
| 3He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” | 3So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” |
| 4Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. | 4Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. |
| 5Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.” | 5And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” |
| 6Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. | 6At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. |
| 7When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. | 7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing with the war. |
| 8Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax. ” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. | 8Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. |
| 9But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard. | 9But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house. |
| 10When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?” | 10And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?” |
| 11Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.” | 11Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!” |
| 12“Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. | 12“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. |
| 13Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard. David Arranges for Uriah’s Death | 13Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home. |
| 14So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. | 14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. |
| 15The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” | 15In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” |
| 16So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. | 16So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers. |
| 17And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers. | 17And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. |
| 18Then Joab sent a battle report to David. | 18Joab sent to David a full account of the battle |
| 19He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king. | 19and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle, |
| 20But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls? | 20if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? |
| 21Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’” | 21Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If so, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’ ” |
| 22So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David. | 22So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. |
| 23“The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate, | 23The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. |
| 24the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.” | 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.” |
| 25“Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!” | 25Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.” |
| 26When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. | 26When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. |
| 27When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done. | 27And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD. |
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