David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11

1 h i In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged j Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on k the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this l Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of m Uriah the Hittite?" 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. ( n Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."

6 So David sent word to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and o wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" 11 Uriah said to David, p "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and q the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and r as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." 12 Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, s so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with q the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14 In the morning David t wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, u that he may be struck down, and die." 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. 19 And he instructed the messenger, "When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, 20 then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 v Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"

22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also." 25 David said to the messenger, "Thus shall you say to Joab, 'Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.' And encourage him."

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and w she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

  1. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 20:1
    In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it.
  2. Cross References
    1 Kings 20:22
    Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, "Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you.
    1 Kings 20:26
    In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
    2 Chronicles 36:10
    In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
  3. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:26
    Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city.
    Deuteronomy 3:11
    (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
  4. Cross References
    1 Samuel 9:25
    And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.
  5. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 3:5
    These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel.
  6. Cross References
    2 Samuel 23:39
    Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
  7. Cross References
    Leviticus 15:19
    When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
    Leviticus 15:28
    But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
    Leviticus 18:19
    You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 18:4
    Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
  9. Cross References
    2 Samuel 7:2
    The king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.
    2 Samuel 7:6
    I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
  10. Cross References
    2 Samuel 20:6
    And David said to Abishai, "Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.
    1 Kings 1:33
    And the king said to them, "Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.
  11. Cross References
    1 Samuel 1:26
    And she said, "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord.
  12. Cross References
    Genesis 19:33
    So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
    Genesis 19:35
    So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
  13. Cross References
    2 Samuel 11:11
    Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to 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.
  14. Cross References
    1 Kings 21:8 - 9
    So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city.
  15. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:9
    Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
  16. Cross References
    Judges 9:53
    And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull.
  17. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:9
    Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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