David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,k at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joabl out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.m They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.n But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roofo of the palace. From the roof he sawp a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba,q the daughter of Eliamr and the wife of Uriahs the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her.t She came to him, and he sleptu with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.)v Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriahw the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”x So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

11 Uriah said to David, “The arky and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,a and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make lovez to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

14 In the morning David wrote a lettera to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck downb and die.c”

16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelekd son of Jerub-Beshethb? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall,e so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ ”

22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourningf was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeasedg the Lord.

Nathan Rebukes David

11:1; 12:29–31pp—1Ch 20:1–3

12 The Lord sent Nathanh to David.i When he came to him,j he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

5 Davidk burned with angerl against the manm and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives,n the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over,o because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!p This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointedq your king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you,s and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despiset the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck downu Uriahv the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killedw him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the swordx will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own householdy I am going to bring calamity on you.z Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.a 12 You did it in secret,b but I will do this thing in broad daylightc before all Israel.’ ”

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinnedd against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken awaye your sin.f You are not going to die.g 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt fora the Lord,h the son born to you will die.”