2 Samuel 10–12

Chapter 10

Ammon and Aram Defeated

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

²Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of ^aNahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent ¹some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites,

³the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “¹Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers 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.

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

⁶Now when the sons of Ammon saw that ^athey had become odious to David, 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.

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

⁸The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array ^aat the entrance of the ¹city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^bTob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

⁹Now when Joab saw that ¹the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans.

¹⁰But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon.

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

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

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

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

¹⁵When the Arameans saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel, 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.

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

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

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

Chapter 11

Bathsheba, David’s Great Sin

^1aThen it happened ^1bin the spring, at the time when kings 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 inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not ^aBathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^bUriah the Hittite?”

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

⁵The woman conceived; 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 welfare of Joab and ¹the people and the state 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 ¹was sent out after him.

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

¹⁰Now when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

¹¹Uriah said to David, “^aThe ark and Israel and Judah are staying in ¹temporary shelters, 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 let you go.” 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 in the morning David ^awrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

^15aHe 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.

¹⁷The 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 reported to David all the events of the war.

¹⁹He charged 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 go so near to 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 throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”

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

²³The 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“Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

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

²⁶Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, ^ashe mourned for her husband.

²⁷When the time of mourning was over, David sent and ¹brought 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 the Lord.

Chapter 12

Nathan Rebukes David

¹Then the Lord 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 of his ¹bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,

And was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a traveler came to the rich man,

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

To prepare for the wayfarer 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 the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this ^1adeserves to die.

⁶“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 the Lord 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 the Lord 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‘Now therefore, ^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 the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^aI will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in ¹broad daylight.

¹²‘Indeed ^ayou did it secretly, but ^bI will do this thing before all Israel, and ¹under the sun.’ ”

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

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

¹⁵So Nathan went to his house.

Loss of a Child

Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s ¹widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

¹⁶David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David ^afasted and went and ^blay all night on the ground.

^17aThe elders of his household…