11:1 And it came to pass, after the year had expired, at the
time when kings go forth [to battle], that David sent Joab, and
his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the
children of Ammon, and destroyed Rabbah. But David tarried
still at Jerusalem.
11:2 And it came to pass in an evening, that David arose from
off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and
from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman
[was] very beautiful to look upon.
11:3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And [one]
said, [Is] not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife
of Uriah the Hittite?
11:4 And David 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.
11:5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said,
I [am] with child.
11:6 And David sent to Joab, [saying], Send me Uriah the
Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
11:7 And when Uriah had come to him, David inquired [of him] how
Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
11:8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy
feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there
followed him a mess [of meat] from the king.
11:9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all
the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
11:10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down
to his house, David said to Uriah, Camest thou not from [thy]
journey? why [then] didst thou not go down to thy house?
11:11 And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah,
abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord
are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house,
to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? [as] thou livest,
and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
11:12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to-day also, and
to-morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem
that day and the morrow.
11:13 And when David had called him, he ate and drank before
him; and he made him drunk: and at evening he went out to lie
on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to
his house.
11:14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a
letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah.
11:15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the
front of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he
may be smitten, and die.
11:16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he
assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that valiant men
[were].
11:17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab:
and there fell [some] of the people of the servants of David;
and Uriah the Hittite died also.
11:18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning
the war;
11:19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an
end of telling the matters of the war to the king,
11:20 And if the king's wrath shall rise, and he shall say to
thee, Why approached ye so nigh to the city for the fight? knew
ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
11:21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a
woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that
he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou,
Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
11:22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that
Joab had sent him for.
11:23 And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed
against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were upon
them even to the entrance of the gate.
11:24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants:
and [some] of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant
Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
11:25 Then David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to
Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword
devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong
against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
11:26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband
was dead, she mourned for her husband.
11:27 And when the mourning was past, 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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