2 Samuel 10–12

10TH CHAPTER

David Defeats Ammon and Aram—1 Chronicles 19:1–19

¹Later the king of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king in his place. ²David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun as his father Nahash showed me kindness.” So David sent his servants to comfort Hanun after his father’s ⸤death⸥. But when David’s servants entered Ammonite territory, ³the Ammonite princes asked their master Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father because he sent men to comfort you? Hasn’t David sent his men to explore the city, spy on it, and destroy it?” ⁴So Hanun took David’s men, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their clothes from the waist down, and sent them away. 

⁵After David was told ⸤what had happened⸥, he sent ⸤someone⸥ to meet them because they were deeply humiliated. The king said to them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return ⸤to Jerusalem⸥.” 

⁶The Ammonites realized that they had made themselves offensive to David. So they hired the Arameans from Beth Rehob and Zobah (20,000 foot soldiers), ⸤the army of⸥ the king of Maacah (1,000 men), and the men of Tob (12,000 men). 

⁷After David heard about this, he sent Joab and all the elite troops. ⁸The Ammonites formed a battle line at the entrance of the ⸤city⸥ gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the men from Tob and Maacah remained by themselves in the open country. 

⁹When Joab saw he was under attack in front and behind, he took the select troops of Israel and organized them for combat against the Arameans. ¹⁰He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the troops. Abishai organized them for combat against the Ammonites. 

¹¹Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for my ⸤troops⸥, be ready to help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for your ⸤troops⸥, I’ll come to help you. ¹²Be strong! Let’s prove ourselves strong for our people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord will do what he considers right.” 

¹³Then Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, and the Arameans fled. ¹⁴When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, the Ammonites fled from Abishai and went into the city. So Joab stopped his campaign against the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem. 

¹⁵Realizing that Israel had defeated them, the Arameans reassembled ⸤their troops⸥. ¹⁶Hadadezer sent ⸤messengers⸥ to get Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River. The Arameans came to Helam with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, leading them. 

¹⁷When David was told ⸤about this⸥, he assembled Israel’s army, crossed the Jordan River, and came to Helam. The Arameans formed a battle line against David’s ⸤troops⸥ and fought him. ¹⁸The Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed 700 chariot drivers and 40,000 horsemen. David struck Shobach dead. 

¹⁹When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with Israel and became their subjects. And the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore. 

11TH CHAPTER

David Takes Bathsheba—1 Chronicles 20:1

¹In the spring, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his mercenaries, and Israel’s army ⸤to war⸥. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. 

²Now, when evening came, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the royal palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and she was very pretty. ³David sent someone to ask about the woman. The man said, “She’s Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴So David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he went to bed with her. (She had just cleansed herself after her monthly period.) Then she went home. ⁵The woman had become pregnant. So she sent someone to tell David that she was pregnant. 

⁶Then David sent a messenger to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the troops were and how the war was going. 

⁸“Go home,” David said to Uriah, “and wash your feet.” Uriah left the royal palace, and the king sent a present to him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace among his superior’s mercenaries. He didn’t go home. 

¹⁰When they told David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David asked Uriah, “Didn’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?” 

¹¹Uriah answered David, “The ark and ⸤the army of⸥ Israel and Judah are in temporary shelters, and my commander Joab and Your Majesty’s mercenaries are living in the field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? I solemnly swear, as sure as you’re living, I won’t do this!” 

¹²David said to Uriah, “Then stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But that evening Uriah went to lie down on his bed among his superior’s mercenaries. He didn’t go home. 

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is heaviest. Then abandon him so that he’ll be struck down and die.” 

¹⁶Since Joab had kept the city under observation, he put Uriah at the place where he knew the experienced warriors were. ¹⁷The men of the city came out and fought Joab. Some of the people, namely, some of David’s mercenaries, fell and died—including Uriah the Hittite. 

¹⁸Then Joab sent ⸤a messenger⸥ to report to David all the details of the battle. ¹⁹And he commanded the messenger, “When you finish telling the king about the battle, ²⁰the king may become angry. He might ask you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹Who killed Jerubbesheth’s^ason Abimelech? Didn’t a woman on the wall of Thebez throw a small millstone at him and kill him? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ If the king asks this, then say, ‘Your man Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’ ” 

²²The messenger left, and when he arrived, he reported to David everything Joab told him to say.^b23The messenger said, “Their men overpowered us and came to attack us in the field. Then we forced them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴The archers on the wall shot down at your mercenaries, and some of Your Majesty’s mercenaries died. Your man Uriah the Hittite also is dead.” 

²⁵David said to the messenger, “This is what you are to say to Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing trouble you, because a sword can kill one person as easily as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage him.” 

²⁶When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷When her mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to his home, and she became his wife. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord considered David’s actions evil. 

12TH CHAPTER

Nathan Confronts David

¹So the Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said, “There were two men in a certain city. One was rich, and the other was poor. ²The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cows, ³but the poor man had only one little female lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter. 

⁴“Now, a visitor came to the rich man. The rich man thought it would be a pity to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler. So he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared her for the traveler.” 

⁵David burned with anger against the man. “I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this certainly deserves to die! ⁶And he must pay back four times the price of the lamb because he did this and had no pity.” 

⁷“You are the man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and rescued you from Saul. ⁸I gave you your master Saul’s house and his wives. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if this weren’t enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why did you despise my word by doing what I considered evil? You had Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. You took his wife as your wife. You used the Ammonites to kill him. ¹⁰So warfare will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 

¹¹“This is what the Lord says: I will stir up trouble against you within your own household, and before your own eyes I will take your wives and give them to someone close to you. He will go to bed with your wives in broad daylight. ¹²You did this secretly, but I will make this happen in broad daylight in front of all Israel.” 

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

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. ¹⁴But since you have shown total contempt for the Lord by this affair, the son that is born to you must die.” ¹⁵Then Nathan went home. 

The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had given birth to for David so that the child became sick. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and lay on the ground all night. ¹⁷The older leaders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling. And he wouldn’t eat with them. 

¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. But David’s officials were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. They thought, “While the child was alive, we talked to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may harm ⸤himself⸥.” 

¹⁹But when David saw that his officials were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” David asked them. 

“⸤Yes,⸥ he is dead,” they answered. 

²⁰So David got up from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the Lord’s house and worshiped. Then he went home and asked for food. They placed food in front of…