2 Samuel 11
New Heart English Bible
1It happened, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

2It happened at evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the king's house; and he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hethite?" 4David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. 5The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child."

6Then David sent to Joab and said, Send me Uriah the Hethite. So Joab sent Uriah to him. 7And Uriah came to him, and David asked about the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war. And he said, "Its well." 8And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." So Uriah went out from the presence of the king, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10And it was reported to David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house." So David said to Uriah, "Haven't you come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" 11Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are camped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not do this thing." 12David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. 13And the next day David summoned him, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he made him drunk. But in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

14It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die." 16It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. 17The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hethite died also. 18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19and he commanded the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king, 20it shall be that, if his anger rises and he asks you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall. 21Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? Did a woman not cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hethite is dead also.'"

22And the messenger of Joab went to the king in Jerusalem and came and reported to David all that Joab had told him. 23The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate. 24And the archers shot at your servants from off the wall, and some eighteen men of the king's servants are dead. And your servant Uriah the Hethite is dead also." 25Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall tell Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.' Encourage him."

26When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. 27When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.



New Heart English Bible
Edited by Wayne A. Mitchell.
Public Domain 2008-2023


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