2 Samuel 11
He Stayed Home When Kings Go Out to War
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David and Bathsheba
11:1At the return of the year, at the time of the kings’ expedition, David sent Joab, his servants with him, and all Israel. They devastated the sons of Ammon and laid siege to Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem.
11:2Toward evening David rose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.
11:3David sent and sought the woman. It was said, “Is this not Bathsheba daughter of Eliab, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her. She was purifying herself from her impurity, and she returned to her house.
11:5The woman conceived. She sent word and reported to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
Uriah Summoned from the Camp
11:6David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David.
11:7Uriah arrived and came in to him, and David asked about Joab’s welfare, the people’s welfare, and the welfare of the war.
11:8David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah left the king’s house, and a portion from the king went out after him.
11:9Uriah lay down by the king’s door with his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his house.
11:10David was told, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11:11Uriah said to David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are staying in tents. My lord Joab and my lord’s servants are camping in the open field. Shall I go to my house to eat, drink, and lie with my wife? How could I? As your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
11:12David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you away.” Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
11:13David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and David made him drunk. In the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.
The Letter Carried by Uriah
11:14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah’s hand.
11:15He wrote in the letter, “Bring Uriah to face the fiercest battle, and you shall withdraw from behind him, and he will be struck and die.”
11:16As Joab kept watch over the city, he placed Uriah where he knew there were powerful men.
11:17The city’s men came out and fought Joab. Some of the people, David’s servants, fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
The Report of Uriah’s Death
11:18Joab sent and reported to the king all the matters of the battle,
11:19and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the matters of the battle,
11:20if the king’s anger rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot arrows from above the wall?
11:21Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman throw a fragment of a millstone on him from above the wall, so that he died at Thamasi? Why did you go so near the wall?’ Then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
11:22Joab’s messenger went to the king in Jerusalem, arrived, and reported to David everything Joab had told him, all the matters of the battle. David became angry with Joab and said to the messenger, “Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know you would be struck from the wall? Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman throw a fragment of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thamasi? Why did you go so near the wall?”
11:23The messenger said to David, “The men grew strong against us and came out against us in the field. We pressed them as far as the gate’s entrance,
11:24and the archers shot at your servants from above the wall. Some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.”
11:25David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab this: ‘Do not regard this matter as evil, for the sword devours sometimes this way and sometimes that way. Strengthen your battle against the city and pull it down.’ And encourage him.”
Bathsheba Brought to David’s House
11:26Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband had died, and she beat herself in mourning for her husband.
11:27When the mourning passed, David sent and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done appeared evil in the Lord’s eyes.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.