11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings1 normally conduct wars,2 David sent out Joab with his soldiers3 and the entire Israelite army.4 They defeated the Ammonites and laid Rabbah under siege. But David stayed in Jerusalem. 11:2 On a certain evening David got up from his couch and walked around on the roof of his palace.5 From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger6 said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 So David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he had sexual relations with her.7 (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived, and she sent word to David saying, “I am pregnant.”
11:6 So David sent word to Joab saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how things were with Joab and how the army was doing and how the battle was going.8 11:8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and wash your feet.” So Uriah went out from the palace, with a gift from the king soon to reach him.9 11:9 But Uriah lay at the door of the palace with all10 the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his home.
11:10 So they informed David, saying “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your home?” 11:11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in a hut, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the field. Should I go to my home to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you are alive,11 I will not do this thing!” 11:12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here yet another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. 11:13 Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own home.
11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. 11:15 In the letter he wrote the following: “Station Uriah opposite the heat of the battle and retreat from him. Let him be struck down and die.”
11:16 So as Joab kept watch on the city, he positioned Uriah at the place where he knew the best soldiers were. 11:17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers12 fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.
11:18 Then Joab sent a full battle report13 to David. 11:19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king, 11:20 if the king should become angry and ask you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize that they would shoot from over the wall? 11:21 Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Was it not a woman who threw down on him an upper millstone14 from the wall, and he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’, just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”
11:22 So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him. 11:23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed over us, and they came out to us in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way15 to the door of the city gate. 11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from over the wall, and some of the king’s soldiers16 died. Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” 11:25 Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this matter seem too bad to you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will devour.17 Press the battle to the city and overturn it.’ Encourage him with these words.”18
11:26 When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she grieved over her husband. 11:27 But when her time of mourning passed, David sent and brought her to his residence. She became a wife for him, and she bore him a son. But what David had done was evil in the LORD’s sight.