2 Samuel 11

In the spring of the year, the season when kings go out to war, David sent Joab out, along with his officers and the whole army of Israel. They crushed the Ammonites and surrounded the city of Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

1And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

NoteArmies campaigned in spring and summer, after the rains ended and roads and food supplies allowed an army to move; "the time when kings go out" is a way of dating the events, not a comment on David. Joab was David's army commander, his nephew and the most powerful man in the kingdom after the king. The Ammonites were a neighboring people living east of the Jordan River; Rabbah was their capital, on the site of modern Amman in Jordan. "Besieged" means the army surrounded the city and cut it off rather than storming it, a slow operation that could last months, which is why David could be at home while a war ran on.

2One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the flat roof of the king's palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful.

2And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

NoteRoofs in this world were flat and were used as extra living space, for sleeping, drying food, working in the cool of the evening. The palace stood higher than the houses packed around it, so from its roof one could look down into neighboring courtyards, where washing was done. Bathsheba was not necessarily exposed to public view; David's vantage point was.

3David sent someone to find out who she was. He was told, "That is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

3And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

Note"The Hittite" marks Uriah as of foreign descent, from a people long settled in Canaan. Foreign-born professional soldiers served in David's army, and Uriah is later listed among his elite warriors. His name is Hebrew, meaning "the LORD is my light," which suggests he had taken on Israel's religion.

4So David sent messengers to bring her to him. She came to him, and he slept with her. She had just finished the washing that made her clean again after her monthly period. Then she went back home.

4And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.

NoteIsraelite law counted a woman ritually unclean during her monthly period and for a set time after, ending with a ritual bath: this is the washing David saw. The narrator mentions it to tell the reader that the pregnancy could not have been from an earlier time: the child is David's.

5The woman became pregnant. She sent word to David and said, "I am going to have a baby."

5And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

6So David sent this order to Joab: "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." And Joab sent Uriah to David.

6And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing, how the soldiers were doing, and how the war was going.

7And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

8Then David said to Uriah, "Go on down to your house and wash your feet." Uriah left the palace, and a gift of food from the king was sent after him.

8And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

Note"Wash your feet" is an everyday idiom for settling in at home for the night after travel; in this context it also carries the sense of David sending Uriah home to sleep with his wife, which is exactly what David needs to happen. The "gift of food" was a portion sent from the king's own table, a mark of favor, and here, an encouragement to have a comfortable evening at home.

9But Uriah slept at the palace door with all his master's servants. He did not go down to his own house.

9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

NoteThe king's servants and soldiers on duty slept in the palace entrance area. By bedding down there, Uriah was choosing to stay on a soldier's footing rather than go off duty.

10David was told, "Uriah did not go down to his house." So David said to Uriah, "Haven't you just come back from a journey? Why didn't you go home?"

10And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?

11Uriah said to David, "The ark of God, and Israel, and Judah are all staying in tents. My master Joab and my master's soldiers are camped out in the open fields. So how could I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing."

11And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

NoteThe ark was the sacred chest holding the covenant, and it was sometimes carried with the army on campaign, so God was understood to be present in the camp. Soldiers on campaign kept themselves ritually pure, which included abstaining from sex; this is why Uriah treats going home to his wife as unthinkable while the army is in the field. "As surely as you live" is a formal oath, swearing by the life of the king, the strongest refusal a subject could give.

12David said to Uriah, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

12And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

13David invited him to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. But that evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat with his master's servants. He still did not go down to his house.

13And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah, who carried it himself.

14And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

NoteLetters were written on a folded and sealed sheet and carried by hand. An ordinary officer would not open one addressed to the commander, so Uriah could carry the order for his own death without knowing it.

15In the letter David wrote, "Put Uriah out in front, where the fighting is fiercest. Then pull back from him, so he will be struck down and killed."

15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

16So while Joab had the city surrounded, he assigned Uriah to a spot where he knew the enemy's strongest fighters were.

16And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

17The men of the city came out and fought against Joab. Some of David's soldiers were killed, and Uriah the Hittite died too.

17And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

18Then Joab sent a full report of the battle to David.

18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;

19He gave the messenger these orders: "When you have finished telling the king everything about the battle,

19And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,

20the king may get angry and ask you, 'Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot at you from the top of the wall?

20And if so be that the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

NoteAttacking troops normally kept out of range of a city's walls, since defenders shot down at them from above with every advantage. Coming close enough to be shot at was a basic tactical error, and a commander who let it happen could expect to be blamed.

21Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Wasn't it a woman who dropped a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' If he says that, then you tell him, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.'"

21Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

NoteDavid's officers all knew this story: Abimelech, a son of Gideon, was killed at the town of Thebez when a woman dropped a millstone from the wall onto his head as he pressed too close to a tower (told in Judges 9). A millstone was the heavy round upper stone of a hand mill for grinding grain. "Jerubbesheth" is a deliberately altered form of Gideon's other name, Jerubbaal: later scribes replaced the element "baal", the name of a rival god, with "besheth," meaning "shame," so as not to pronounce it.

22So the messenger went to David and told him everything Joab had sent him to say.

22So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.

23The messenger said to David, "Their men got the upper hand and came out at us into the open field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.

23And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.

24Then the archers shot down at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's soldiers were killed, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too."

24And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king’s servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

25David said to the messenger, "Tell Joab this: 'Do not let this upset you. The sword kills one man as easily as another. Press your attack harder against the city and tear it down.' Say that to keep his spirits up."

25Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.

26When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

NoteFormal mourning for a husband customarily lasted about seven days, with weeping, fasting and public lament. David waits only for this to end before marrying her, which is fast enough to look respectable and fast enough to cover the timing of the pregnancy.

27When the time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to his house. She became his wife and gave birth to a son for him. But what David had done was evil in the LORD's sight.

27And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.