2 Samuel 11

Modern

Literal

David and Bathsheba

¹In the spring,^a 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.

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.

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.

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.

³So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam^a and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

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?”

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.

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 sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁵And the woman conceived. And she sent and told David and said, “I am pregnant.”

⁶At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

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

⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.

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.

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.

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.

⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

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 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?”

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?”

¹¹Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents,^a 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!”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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

¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah.

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.”

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.”

¹⁶So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.

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 when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

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.

¹⁸Joab sent to David a full account of the battle

¹⁸And Joab sent and told David all the matters of the war,

¹⁹and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle,

¹⁹and he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the matters of the war to the king,

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?

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?^a 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 he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

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.’”

²²So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.

²²And the messenger went and came in and told David all that Joab had sent him.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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

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

²⁶And the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and she mourned for her husband.

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.

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.