1And after that year ended, in the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab, his servants, and entire Israelite army; and they destroyed the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2And one evening, David rose from his bed, and walked on his palace rooftop. And from there he saw a woman bathing and she was very beautiful. 3And David sent and inquired about her; and was told, “She is Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite” 4And David sent and summoned her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her; for she had completed her monthly period of uncleanness. And then she returned to her house.

5And the woman conceived, and she sent a message to David that said, “I am with child.” 6And David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah, the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7And when Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab, and the men were doing, and how the war was going. 8And David told Uriah, “Go down to your house, and relax.” And Uriah left, and a gift from the king was sent down for him. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance of the palace with David’s servants, and did not go down to his house. 10And when they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house”, David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned after being gone for quite a while? Why, then, did you not go down to your house?” 11And Uriah said, “The ark, the armies of Israel and Judah, abide in tents; as does my commander, Joab, and all your servants are camped in the open fields. How could I then go into my house, eat and drink, and lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12And David told Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next. 13And when David had called him, he ate and drank with him and made him drunk. But that evening he again went out and slept on his mat with David’s servants, and did not go down to his house.

14And so the next morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it with Uriah. 15And in the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the front of the hottest part of battle, and then withdraw from him, so that he is struck down, and dies.” 16And when Joab assessed the city under siege, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17And the defenders of the city mounted a counter-offensive against Joab’s men; and some of them fell; and Uriah, the Hittite, also died. 18Then Joab sent a battle report to David, 19And he told the messenger, “When you have finished reporting the matters of the war to the king, 20If the king's wrath rises, and he asks you, “Why did you approach so near to the city when you fight? Did you not know that they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that killed him in Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?” Then reply, “Your servant, Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.” 22So the messenger went, and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. 23And the messenger told David, “Surely the defenders overpowered us, and drove us out into the field, and then we drove them back to the city gate entrance. 24And the shooters shot from the wall at your men; and some of the king's men are dead; and your servant, Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.” 25Then David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab, ‘Do not let this setback discourage you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Press your attack against the city, and conquer it,’; and encourage Joab.”

26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But what David had done displeased the LORD.