2 Samuel 11

11 ¹At spring, when kings march out to war, David sent Joab, his men, and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. ²One evening David got up from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. From there he saw a woman bathing; she was very beautiful. ³David sent to ask about the woman. Someone said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

⁴David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he slept with her—she had just purified herself from her uncleanness—and she returned home. ^a a v4 Mosaic law required a woman to undergo purification rites after her monthly period before resuming normal life (see Lev. 15:19–28). ⁵The woman conceived, and she sent word to David: "I am pregnant."

⁶David sent word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked about Joab, the troops, and how the war was going. ⁸David told Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." Uriah left the palace, and the king sent a gift after him. ⁹Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all his lord's servants, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰Told that Uriah had not gone home, David asked him, "Haven't you come from a journey? Why didn't you go home?"

¹¹Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open field. Should I go home to eat, drink, and sleep with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I won't do this."

¹²David told Uriah, "Stay here today too, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³David invited him, and he ate and drank with him, and David got him drunk. But that evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat with his lord's servants; he did not go home.

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. ¹⁵He wrote in the letter: "Put Uriah at the front where the fighting is fiercest, then pull back from him, so he's struck down and dies."

¹⁶While Joab besieged the city, he stationed Uriah where he knew the strongest defenders were. ¹⁷The city's men came out and fought Joab, and some of David's servants fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸Then Joab sent word and told David all the news of the battle. ¹⁹He instructed the messenger, "When you have finished telling the king all the news of the battle, ²⁰if the king's anger flares up and he asks, 'Why did you fight so close to the city? Didn't you know they'd shoot from the wall? ²¹Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?'—then say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead." ^b b v21 Jerubbesheth is another name for Gideon; the millstone story is recorded in Judges 9:50–54.

²²So the messenger set out, arrived, and told David all Joab had sent him to say. ²³The messenger told David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the gate entrance. ²⁴The archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too."

²⁵David told the messenger, "Tell Joab: 'Don't let this trouble you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Attack the city harder and destroy it.' Encourage him."

²⁶When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷When the mourning ended, David sent for her, brought her home, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done was evil in the eyes of our Father.