2 Samuel Chapter 11

2 Samuel Chapter 11
1 And when the year was expired in the
time when kings go forth to battle,
David sent Joab, and his servants with
him, and all Israel, who destroyed the
children of Ammon, and besieged
Rabbah: but David remained in
Jerusalem. 2 And when it was evening
tide, David arose out of his bed, and
walked upon the roof of the king's
palace: and from the roof he saw a
woman washing herself: and the woman
was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired what
woman it was: and one said, Is not this
Bath-sheba the daughter of Eliam, wife
to Uriah the Hittite?
4 Then David sent messengers, and took
her away: and she came unto him and he
lay with her: (now she was purified
from her uncleanness) and she returned
unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived: therefore
she sent and told David, and said, I am
with child.
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send
me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent
Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah came unto him, David
demanded him how Joab did, and how
the people fared, and how the war
prospered.
8 Afterward David said to Uriah, Go
down to thine house, and wash thy feet.
So Uriah departed out of the king's
palace, and the king sent a present after
him.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's
palace with all the servants of his lord,
and went not down to his house.
10 Then they told David, saying, Uriah
went not down to his house: and David
said unto Uriah, Comest thou not from
thy journey? Why didst thou not go down
to thine house?
11 Then Uriah answered David, The ark
and Israel, and Judah dwell in tents: and
my lord Joab and the servants of my lord
abide in the open fields: shall I then go
into mine house to eat and drink, and lie
with my wife? By thy life, and by the life
of thy soul, I will not do this thing.
12 Then David said unto Uriah, Tarry
yet this day, and tomorrow I will send
thee away. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem
that day, and the morrow. 13 Then David
called him, and he did eat and drink
before him, and he made him drunk: and
at even he went out to lie on his couch
with the servants of his Lord, but went
not down to his house.
14 And on the morrow David wrote a
letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of
Uriah.
15 And he wrote thus in the letter, Put ye
Uriah in the forefront of the strength of
the battle, and recule ye back from him,
that he may be smitten, and die. 16 So
when Joab besieged the city, he assigned
Uriah unto a place, where he knew that
strong men were.
17 And the men of the city came out, and
fought with Joab: and there fell of the
people of the servants of David, and
Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab
sent and told David all the things
concerning the war, 19 And he charged
the messenger, saying, When thou hast
made an end of telling all the matters of
the war unto the king,
20 And if the king's anger arise, so that
he say unto thee, Wherefore approached
ye unto the city to fight? Knew ye not
that they would hurl from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech son of
Jerubesheth? Did not a woman cast a
piece of a millstone upon him from the
wall, and he died in Thebez? Why went
you nigh the wall? Then say thou, Thy
servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead. 22
So the messenger went, and came and
showed David all that Joab had sent him
for.
23 And the messenger said unto David,
Certainly the men prevailed against us,
and came out unto us into the field, but
we pursued them unto the entering of the
gate.
24 But the shooters shot from the wall
against thy servants, and some of the
king's servants be dead: and thy servant
Uriah the Hittite is also dead. 25 Then
David said unto the messenger, Thus
shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this
thing trouble thee: for the sword
devoureth one as well as another: make
thy battle more strong against the city
and destroy it, and encourage thou him.
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard
that her husband Uriah was dead, she
mourned for her husband.
27 So when the mourning was past,
David sent and took her into his house,
and she became his wife, and bear him a
son: but the thing that David had done,
displeased the Lord.