New King James Version

New Living Translation

David, Bathsheba, and Uriah

It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

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David and Bathsheba

In the spring of the year,a when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

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Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.

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Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.

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So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not [a]Bathsheba, the daughter of [b]Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

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He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

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Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.

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Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home.

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And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

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Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”

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Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

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Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

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When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered.

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When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing.

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And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.

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Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.b” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace.

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But 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.

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But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.

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So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

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When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”

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And 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 in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

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Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents,c and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”

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Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

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“Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

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Now when David 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 he did not go down to his house.

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Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.

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In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

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David Arranges for Uriah’s Death

So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver.

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And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the [c]hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”

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The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.”

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So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men.

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So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting.

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Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

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And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.

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Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war,

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Then Joab sent a battle report to David.

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and charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king,

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He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king.

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if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

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But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls?

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Who struck Abimelech the son of [d]Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’ — then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”

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Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideond killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’”

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So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him.

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So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David.

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And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate.

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“The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate,

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The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”

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the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”

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Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing [e]displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.”

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“Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”

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When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

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

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And when her 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[f] the Lord.

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When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done.

Parallel

New King James Version

New Living Translation

2 Samuel 11

2 Samuel 11