2 Samuel 10–12

CHAPTER 10

The Ammonites Dishonor David’s Men

^1aNow it happened afterwards, that ^bthe king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son became king in his place.

²So David said, “I will show lovingkindness to Hanun the son of ^aNahash, just as his father showed lovingkindness to me.” So David sent to comfort him concerning his father by the hand of his servants. And David’s servants came to the land of the sons of Ammon.

³But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “In your eyes, is David honoring your father because he has sent comforters to you? ^aHas David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and ^ashaved off half of their beards, and ^bcut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away.

⁵Then they told it to David. And he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly dishonored. And the king said, “¹Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”

⁶Then the sons of Ammon saw that ^athey had become odious to David. So the sons of Ammon sent and ^bhired the Arameans of ^cBeth-rehob and the ^dArameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of ^eMaacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men.

⁷Then David heard of it and sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men.

⁸And the sons of Ammon came out and arranged themselves for battle ^aat the entrance of the gate of the city. But the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^bTob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

David Defeats Ammon and Aram

⁹Then Joab saw that ¹the battle was set against him from the front and from the rear. So he chose from all the choice men of Israel, and they arranged themselves to meet the Arameans.

¹⁰But the remainder of the people he put in the hand of Abishai his brother; and he arranged them to meet the sons of Ammon.

¹¹And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall save me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to save you.

¹²“^aBe strong, and let us show strength for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and ^bmay Yahweh do what is good in His sight.”

¹³So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Arameans, and ^athey fled before him.

¹⁴Now the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled. So they also fled before Abishai and came into the city. ^aThen Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵Then the Arameans saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel. So they gathered themselves together.

^16aAnd Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the ¹River, and they came to Helam; and ^bShobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ²led them.

¹⁷And it was told to David, so he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans arranged themselves to meet David and fought against him.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans ^a700 charioteers and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.

¹⁹Then all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were ¹defeated by Israel. So ^athey made peace with Israel and served them. And the Arameans were afraid to save the sons of Ammon anymore.

CHAPTER 11

David and Bathsheba

^1aNow it happened ^1bin the spring, at the time when ²kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and ^cbesieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

²Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on ^athe roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.

³So David sent and ¹inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not ^aBathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^bUriah the Hittite?”

⁴Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and ^ahe lay with her; ^band when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.

⁵And the woman became pregnant; and she sent and told David, and said, “^aI am pregnant.”

⁶Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷When Uriah came to him, ^aDavid asked concerning the ¹state of Joab and the ²state of the people and the ³state of the war.

⁸Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and ^awash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king went out after him.

⁹But Uriah lay down ^aat the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰Then 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?”

¹¹And Uriah said to David, “^aThe ark and Israel and Judah are staying in ¹booths, and my lord Joab and ^bthe 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? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.”

¹²Then David said to Uriah, “^aStay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you out.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the ¹next.

¹³Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he ^amade him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed ^bwith his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴Now it happened in the morning that David ^awrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

^15aAnd he had written in the letter, saying, “¹Place Uriah in the front line of the ²fiercest battle and withdraw from him, ^bso that he may be struck down and die.”

¹⁶So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men.

¹⁷And the men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and ^aUriah the Hittite also died.

¹⁸Then Joab sent and told David all the events of the war.

¹⁹And he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king,

²⁰and if it happens that the king’s wrath 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?

²¹‘Who ^astruck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so he died at Thebez? Why did you approach the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

²²So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

²³And the messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we ¹pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate.

²⁴“And the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.”

²⁵Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing be evil in your sight, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and ¹tear it down’; and so strengthen him.”

²⁶Then the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband had died, so ^ashe lamented over her husband.

²⁷Then the time of mourning passed by, and David sent and gathered her to his house and ^ashe became his wife; then she bore him a son. But ^bthe thing that David had done was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

CHAPTER 12

Yahweh Sends Nathan to David

¹Then Yahweh sent ^aNathan to David. And ^bhe came to him and ¹said,

“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

²“The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.

³“But the poor man had nothing except ^aone little ewe lamb

Which he bought and nourished;

And it grew up together with him and his children.

It would eat his morsel of bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,

And was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a visitor came to the rich man,

And he ¹was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,

To prepare for the traveler who had come to him;

Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, surely the man who has done this ^1adeserves to die.

⁶“And he must make restitution for the lamb ^afourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷Nathan then said to David, “^aYou are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^bIt is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.

⁸‘I also gave you ^ayour master’s house and your master’s wives into your ¹care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!

⁹‘Why ^ahave you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in His sight? ^bYou have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, ^chave taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁰‘So now, ^athe sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives from before your sight and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

¹²‘Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “^aI have sinned against Yahweh.” And Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has ^1btaken away your sin; you shall not die.

¹⁴“However, because by this deed you have ^agiven occasion to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme, the son also that is born to you shall surely die.”

¹⁵And Nathan went to his house.

David’s Child Dies

Then Yahweh smote the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, so that he was very sick.

¹⁶…