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II Samuel 11, RSV

11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

11:2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

11:3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?"

11:4 So 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.

11:5 And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am with child."

11:6 So David sent word to Jo'ab, "Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David.

11:7 When Uri'ah came to him, David asked how Jo'ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.

11:8 Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uri'ah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.

11:9 But Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

11:10 When they told David, "Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"

11:11 Uri'ah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and my lord Jo'ab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing."

11:12 Then David said to Uri'ah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uri'ah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the next.

11:13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah.

11:15 In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die."

11:16 And as Jo'ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uri'ah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.

11:17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo'ab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite was slain also.

11:18 Then Jo'ab sent and told David all the news about the fighting;

11:19 and he instructed the messenger, "When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,

11:20 then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, `Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

11:21 Who killed Abim'elech the son of Jerub'besheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, `Your servant Uri'ah the Hittite is dead also.'"

11:22 So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Jo'ab had sent him to tell.

11:23 The messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us, and came out against us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king's servants are dead; and your servant Uri'ah the Hittite is dead also."

11:25 David said to the messenger, "Thus shall you say to Jo'ab, `Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another; strengthen your attack upon the city, and overthrow it.' And encourage him."

11:26 When the wife of Uri'ah heard that Uri'ah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband.

11:27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

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