David and Bathsheba 2 UST Late one afternoon, after David had finished sleeping during the heat of the day, he got up and walked around on the flat roof of his palace. From there, he could look down and see a woman who was bathing in the enclosed courtyard of her house. The woman was very beautiful. 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 UST David sent someone to find out who she was. He returned and told David,“That woman is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam. She is 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 UST But David sent messengers to get her anyway. They brought her to David, and he had sexual relations with her.(She had just finished performing the rituals to make herself pure after her menstrual period.) Then Bathsheba went back home. 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 UST Later, she realized that she was going to have a child. So she sent a messenger to tell David this news. BSB BSB: And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 UST So David sent a message to Joab. He said,“Tell Uriah the Hittite to come back to Jerusalem so that I can speak with him.” So Joab sent Uriah to go and speak with David. BSB BSB: At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.
7 UST When he arrived, David asked whether Joab was well, whether the other soldiers were well, and whether the Israelites were doing well fighting the war. BSB BSB: When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.
8 UST Then David told Uriah,“Now go home and relax for a while.” So Uriah left, and David sent someone to bring some special food to Uriah for him to enjoy. 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 UST But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept at the palace entrance with the palace guards. 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 UST The next morning, someone told David that Uriah had not gone to his house that night. So David summoned him again. He asked him,“Why did you not go home and relax last night? You needed to rest after walking so far to get here.” 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 UST Uriah replied,“The soldiers of Israel and Judah are camping in the open fields. Even our commander Joab and his officers are sleeping in tents like the rest of us. We brought the sacred chest with us, and it is also in a tent.{ As a soldier who is part of this military campaign,} it would not be right for me to go to my home, enjoy food and drink, and have sexual relations with my wife. I swear by your life that I would never do such a 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 UST Then David said to Uriah,“Stay here another day, and I will let you return to the battle tomorrow.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and that night. 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 UST That evening, David invited Uriah to dine with him in the palace. David gave Uriah so much wine to drink that he got drunk. But after the meal, Uriah still did not go home. Instead, he slept that night on a cot in a room with the palace guard. 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 UST David{ found out that Uriah had not gone home, so} the next morning he wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to bring to him. BSB BSB: The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 UST In the letter, he wrote,“Put Uriah in the front line at the place where he will be in the greatest danger. Then command the soldiers who are supporting him to retreat. That way our enemies will wound him so badly that he will 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 UST { When Joab got the letter,} he carefully observed the city’ s defenses. He found a place where the Ammonites had put many of their best soldiers. So he put Uriah in the front line there. BSB BSB: So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.
17 UST The Ammonite soldiers came out from that part of the city and fought with Joab’ s soldiers. They killed several of David’ s soldiers. Uriah was one of the soldiers they killed. 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 UST Then Joab sent a messenger to bring David news about what had happened in the battle. BSB BSB: Joab sent to David a full account of the battle
19 UST He told the messenger,“Tell David the news about what happened in the battle. Once you finish telling him, BSB BSB: and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle,
20 UST David may become angry{ because we allowed the Ammonites to kill some of our soldiers}. He may tell you,‘Your soldiers should not have gone so close to the city to fight! You should have known that the Ammonite soldiers would shoot arrows at you from the top of the city 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 UST You must remember how Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth died! A woman who lived in Thebez threw a heavy millstone onto him from the top of a tower, and that killed him. So our troops should not have gone near the city wall!’ If the king says this, then tell him that his soldier Uriah the Hittite also died in the battle.” 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 UST So the messenger went and told David everything that Joab had told him to say. BSB BSB: So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.
23 UST The messenger said to David,“The Ammonite soldiers organized an attack against us. They came out of the city to fight against us in the fields. We were able to force them to retreat right back to the city. 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 UST But then their archers shot arrows at us from the top of the city wall. They killed some of your soldiers, and Uriah the Hittite was one of the soldiers they killed.” 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 UST David said to the messenger,“Go back to Joab and tell him,‘Do not feel badly about what happened, because no one ever knows who might die in a battle. Make an even stronger attack against the city and conquer it.’ Encourage Joab by telling him those things.” 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 UST When Uriah’ s wife Bathsheba heard that her husband had died, she mourned for him. BSB BSB: When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 UST After her time of mourning ended, David sent messengers to bring her to the palace, and he married her. She later gave birth to a son whose father was David. But Yahweh was very displeased with what David had done. 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.