2 Samuel 11:4–15

⁴Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and ^hhe lay with her, for she was ⁱcleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. ⁵And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

⁶Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. ⁸And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and ^jwash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the ^kdoor of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

¹¹And Uriah said to David, ^l“The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and ^mmy lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

¹²Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him ⁿdrunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed ^owith the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴In the morning it happened that David ^pwrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the ³hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may ^qbe struck down and die.”