David and Bathsheba 2 AKJV And it came to pass in an evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look on. BSB BSB: One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
3 AKJV And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? BSB BSB: So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4 AKJV And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned to her house. BSB BSB: Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.
5 AKJV And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. BSB BSB: And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 AKJV And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. BSB BSB: At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.
7 AKJV And when Uriah was come to him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. BSB BSB: When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.
8 AKJV And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. BSB BSB: Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.
9 AKJV But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. BSB BSB: But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.
10 AKJV And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down to his house, David said to Uriah, Came you not from your journey? why then did you not go down to your house? BSB BSB: And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”
11 AKJV And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. BSB BSB: Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”
12 AKJV And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let you depart. So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. BSB BSB: “Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 AKJV And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. BSB BSB: Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.
David Arranges Uriah’s Death 14 AKJV And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. BSB BSB: The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 AKJV And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set you Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire you from him, that he may be smitten, and die. BSB BSB: In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”
16 AKJV And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that valiant men were. BSB BSB: So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.
17 AKJV And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. BSB BSB: And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 AKJV Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; BSB BSB: Joab sent to David a full account of the battle
19 AKJV And charged the messenger, saying, When you have made an end of telling the matters of the war to the king, BSB BSB: and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle,
20 AKJV And if so be that the king’s wrath arise, and he say to you, Why approached you so near to the city when you did fight? knew you not that they would shoot from the wall? BSB BSB: if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?
21 AKJV Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went you near the wall? then say you, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. BSB BSB: Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”
22 AKJV So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. BSB BSB: So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.
23 AKJV And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entering of the gate. BSB BSB: The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.
24 AKJV And the shooters shot from off the wall on your servants; and some of the king’s servants be dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. BSB BSB: Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”
25 AKJV Then David said to the messenger, Thus shall you say to Joab, Let not this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another: make your battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage you him. BSB BSB: Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”
David Marries Bathsheba 26 AKJV And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. BSB BSB: When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 AKJV And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. BSB BSB: And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.