[1] In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle,
David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at
Jerusalem. [2] It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his
couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from
the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. [3] And David
sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathshe'ba,
the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?" [4] So David sent
messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now
she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her
house. [5] And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am with
child." [6] So David sent word to Jo'ab, "Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And
Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David. [7] When Uri'ah came to him, David asked how
Jo'ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. [8]
Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And
Uri'ah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from
the king. [9] But Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the
servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. [10] When they told
David, "Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have
you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" [11]
Uri'ah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and my
lord Jo'ab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall
I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you
live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." [12] Then David
said to Uri'ah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let you
depart." So Uri'ah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the next. [13] And
David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made
him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the
servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. [14] In the
morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah.
[15] In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in the forefront of the hardest
fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and
die." [16] And as Jo'ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uri'ah to the
place where he knew there were valiant men. [17] And the men of the city
came out and fought with Jo'ab; and some of the servants of David among the
people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite was slain also. [18] Then Jo'ab sent and
told David all the news about the fighting; [19] and he instructed the
messenger, "When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting
to the king, [20] then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you,
`Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would
shoot from the wall? [21] Who killed Abim'elech the son of Jerub'besheth?
Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he
died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, `Your
servant Uri'ah the Hittite is dead also.'" [22] So the messenger went, and
came and told David all that Jo'ab had sent him to tell. [23] The messenger
said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us, and came out against
us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. [24]
Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king's
servants are dead; and your servant Uri'ah the Hittite is dead also." [25]
David said to the messenger, "Thus shall you say to Jo'ab, `Do not let this
matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another;
strengthen your attack upon the city, and overthrow it.' And encourage
him." [26] When the wife of Uri'ah heard that Uri'ah her husband was dead,
she made lamentation for her husband. [27] And when the 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 the LORD.
