11It was spring. It was the time when kings go off to war. So David sent Joab out with the king’s special troops and the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites. They went to the city of Rabbah. They surrounded it and got ready to attack it. But David remained in Jerusalem.

²One evening David got up from his bed. He walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman taking a bath. She was very beautiful.

³David sent a messenger to find out who she was. The messenger returned and said, “She is Bathsheba. She’s the daughter of Eliam. She’s the wife of Uriah. He’s a Hittite.”

⁴Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him. And he had sex with her. Then she went back home. All of that took place after she had already made herself “clean” from her monthly period.

⁵Later, Bathsheba found out she was pregnant. She sent a message to David. It said, “I’m pregnant.”

⁶So David sent a message to Joab. It said, “Send me Uriah, the Hittite.” Joab sent him to David.

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

⁸David said to Uriah, “Go home and enjoy some time with your wife.” So Uriah left the palace. Then the king sent him a gift.

⁹But Uriah didn’t go home. Instead, he slept at the entrance to the palace. He stayed there with all of his master’s servants.

¹⁰David was told, “Uriah didn’t go home.” So he sent for Uriah. He said to him, “You have been away for a long time. Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹Uriah said to David, “The ark and the army of Israel and Judah are out there in tents. My master Joab and your special troops are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink? How could I go there and make love to my wife? I could never do a thing like that. And that’s just as sure as you are alive!”

¹²Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

¹³David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him. David got him drunk. But Uriah still didn’t go home. In the evening he went out and slept on his mat. He stayed there among his master’s servants.

¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab. He sent it along with Uriah. ¹⁵In it he wrote, “Put Uriah on the front lines. That’s where the fighting is the heaviest. Then pull your men back from him. When you do, the Ammonites will strike him down and kill him.”

¹⁶So Joab attacked the city. He put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest enemy fighters were. ¹⁷The troops came out of the city. They fought against Joab. Some of the men in David’s army were killed. Uriah, the Hittite, also died.

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