David and Bathsheba

¹After the year had ended, at the time when kings typically go out to battle, David sent Joab, his officers, and all of Israel's army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. However, David remained in Jerusalem. ²One evening, David got up from his bed and walked on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and she was very beautiful to look at. ³David sent someone to find out who she was. The report came back: "That's Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam. She's the wife of Uriah the Hittite." ⁴David sent messengers to bring her to him. She came to the palace, and he slept with her. She had just completed her purification after her monthly period. Then she went back home. ⁵Bathsheba became pregnant. She sent word to David: "I am with child." ⁶David sent a message to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab was doing, how the troops were holding up, and how the war was going. ⁸Then David told Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." Uriah left the king's house, and a serving of meat from the king followed him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰When David was told that Uriah hadn't gone home, he asked him, "You just got back from a long journey — why didn't you go home?" ¹¹Uriah answered David, "The ark, and the armies of Israel and Judah, are living in tents. My lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camped out in the open. How could I go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!" ¹²David said to Uriah, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and got him drunk. But that evening, Uriah went out to sleep with his lord's servants instead of going home. ¹⁴The next morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah himself. ¹⁵In the letter he wrote: "Put Uriah at the front lines where the fighting is fiercest, then pull back from him so he gets struck down and killed." ¹⁶So when Joab studied the city's defenses, he stationed Uriah at a spot where he knew the enemy's toughest warriors were positioned. ¹⁷The men of the city went out and fought against Joab. Some of David's soldiers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite. ¹⁸Joab sent a messenger to report everything about the battle to David. ¹⁹He instructed the messenger, "When you've finished giving the king the full battle report, ²⁰if the king gets angry and demands, 'Why did you get so close to the city walls to fight? Didn't you know they'd shoot down at you from the wall? ²¹Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Wasn't it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' — then tell him, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.'" ²²The messenger went and delivered to David everything Joab had sent him to say. ²³The messenger told David, "The enemy overpowered us and came out to attack us in the open field. We drove them back all the way to the city gate, ²⁴but then their archers shot at your soldiers from the top of the wall. Some of your men were killed, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too." ²⁵David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: 'Don't let this upset you — the sword kills one man as easily as another. Press your attack against the city harder and bring it down.' Tell him to keep his spirits up." ²⁶When Bathsheba heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and gave birth to a son. But what David had done displeased the LORD.