David and Bathsheba
And it was at the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
And it was at the time of evening that David rose from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king’s house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing — and the woman was very good in appearance.
And David sent and inquired about the woman; and one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
And David sent messengers and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her — she was purifying herself from her uncleanness — and she returned to her house.
And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am pregnant.”
And David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
And Uriah came to him; and David asked after the welfare of Joab, and the welfare of the people, and the welfare of the war.
And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king went out after him.
But Uriah lay down at the entrance of the king’s house, with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
And they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” And David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
And Uriah said to David: “The ark, and Israel, and Judah are staying in shelters; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping on the open field. And I — shall I come to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life, and by the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.”
And David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
And David called him, and he ate before him and drank, and he made him drunk. And he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord — and to his house he did not go down.
David Arranges Uriah’s Death
And it was in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Put Uriah in the front, facing the hardest battle, and draw back from behind him, so that he is struck down and dies.”
And it was, as Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were men of valor.
And 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 too.
And Joab sent and told David all the matters of the war.
And he commanded the messenger, saying: “When you have finished speaking to the king all the matters of the war,
then it shall be, if the king’s anger rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you approach the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall, and he died at Thebez? Why did you approach the wall?’ — then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.’”
And the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.
And the messenger said to David: “The men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field, and we were on them as far as the entrance of the gate.
And the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants died; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.”
And David said to the messenger: “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing be evil in your eyes, for the sword devours this one and that one. Strengthen your battle against the city and tear it down.’ And encourage him.”
David Marries Bathsheba
And Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and she lamented over her husband.
And when the mourning had passed, David sent and gathered her to his house, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of the LORD.