2 Samuel 11

1At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his servants with him, and all Israel. They devastated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

2Then at evening time David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.

3So David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.

5The woman conceived, and she sent word and told David, “I am pregnant.”

6So David sent word to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7When Uriah came to him, David asked about Joab's welfare, the welfare of the troops, and the welfare of the war.

8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah went out from the king’s house, and a present from the king went out after him.

9But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

10They told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

11Uriah said to David, “The ark, and Israel and Judah, are staying in shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camped in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

12Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you away.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.

13David invited him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. In the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15He wrote in the letter, saying, "Set Uriah at the front of the hardest fighting, then withdraw from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."

16So when Joab was watching the city, he stationed Uriah in the place where he knew the mighty men were.

17The men of the city came out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.

18Then Joab sent word and told David all the news of the battle.

19And he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the king all the news of the battle,”

20And if the king’s anger rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know what they would shoot from the wall?’

21Who struck down Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’ Then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’

22So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to say.

23The messenger said to David, “The men were stronger than we were, and they came out against us into the open field; but we pressed them back as far as the entrance of the gate.”

24The archers shot at your servants from atop the wall, and some of the king’s servants died; your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.

25Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter be evil in your eyes, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

26When Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

27When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her into his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.