11 1 The city Rabbah is besieged. 4 David committeth adultery. 17 Uriah is slain. 27 David marrieth Bathsheba.
1 And when the year was [a]expired in the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent (A)Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, who destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 And when it was evening-tide, David arose out of his [b]bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s palace: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself: and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired what woman it was: and one said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, wife to Uriah the [c]Hittite?
4 Then David sent messengers, and took her away: and she came unto him and he lay with her: (now she was (B)purified from her uncleanness) and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived: therefore she sent and [d]told David, and said, I am with child.
6 ¶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah came unto him, David demanded him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8 Afterward David said to Uriah, [e]Go down to thine house, and wash thy feet. So Uriah departed out of the king’s palace, and the king sent a present after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 Then they told David, saying, Uriah went not down to his house: and David said unto Uriah, Comest thou not from thy journey? why didst thou not go down to thine house?
11 Then Uriah answered David, [f]The Ark and Israel, and Judah dwell in tents: and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord abide in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to eat and drink, and lie with my wife? by thy life, and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing.
12 Then David said unto Uriah, Tarry yet this day, and tomorrow I will send thee away. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13 Then David called him, and he did eat and drink before him, and he made him [g]drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And on the morrow David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote [h]thus in the letter, [i]Put ye Uriah in the forefront of the strength of the battle, and recule ye back from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16 ¶ So when Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah unto a place, where he knew that strong men were.
17 And the men of the city came out, and fought with Joab: and there fell of the people of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.
19 ¶ And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling all the matters of the war unto the King,
20 [j]And if the king’s anger arise, so that he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye unto the city to fight? knew ye not that they would hurl from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech son of [k]Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, and he died in Thebez? why went you nigh the wall? Then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said unto David, Certainly the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, but we [l]pursued them unto the entering of the gate.
24 But the shooters shot from the wall against thy servants, and some of the king’s servants be dead: and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.
25 Then David said unto the messenger, [m]Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing trouble thee: for the sword devoureth [n]one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and destroy it, and encourage thou him.
26 ¶ And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 So when the mourning was past, David sent and took her into his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son: but the thing that David had done, [o]displeased the Lord.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 11:1 The year following about the spring time.
- 2 Samuel 11:2 Whereupon he used to rest at afternoon, as was read of Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 4:7.
- 2 Samuel 11:3 Who was not an Israelite born, but converted to the true religion.
- 2 Samuel 11:5 Fearing lest she should be stoned according to the Law.
- 2 Samuel 11:8 David thought that if Uriah lay with his wife, his fault might be cloaked.
- 2 Samuel 11:11 Hereby God would touch David’s conscience, that seeing the fidelity and religion of his servant, he would declare himself so forgetful of God, and injurious to his servant.
- 2 Samuel 11:13 He made him drink more liberally than he was wont to do, thinking hereby he would have lain by his wife.
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Hebrew, saying.
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Except God continually uphold us with his mighty spirit, the most perfect fall headlong into all vice and abomination.
- 2 Samuel 11:20 Or, thou shalt do this, if.
- 2 Samuel 11:21 Meaning, Gideon, Judg. 9:52, 53.
- 2 Samuel 11:23 Hebrew, were against them.
- 2 Samuel 11:25 He dissembleth with the messenger, to the intent that neither his cruel commandment, nor Joab’s wicked obedience might be espied.
- 2 Samuel 11:25 Hebrew, so and so.
- 2 Samuel 11:27 Hebrew, was evil in the eyes of the Lord.