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2 Samuel 11:1-27 — David and Bathsheba

2Sam.11.1-27

¹At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his servants with him, and all Israel. They ravaged Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. ²One evening David rose from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. ³So David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴Then David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her. Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness . Then she returned to her house. ⁵The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” ⁶Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked about Joab's welfare, the welfare of the troops, and the state of the war. ⁸Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah went out from the king's house, and a gift from the king followed him. ⁹But Uriah lay down at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and he did not go down to his house. ¹⁰When 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?” ¹¹Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in shelters, 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 drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” ¹²Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence, and David made him drunk. Yet in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ¹⁵He wrote in the letter, “Set Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest, then fall back from him so that he may be struck down and die.” ¹⁶So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah in the place where he knew the strongest warriors were. ¹⁷Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of David's servants fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸Then Joab sent and reported to David all the news of the battle. ¹⁹And he instructed the messenger, saying, "When you finish telling the king all the news of the battle, ²⁰then if the king's anger rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall?' ²¹“Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth ? Was it not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'” ²²So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to say. ²³The messenger said to David, "The men gained the advantage over us and came out against us into the field, but we pressed them back as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴Then the archers shot at your servants from on the wall, and some of the king's servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also." ²⁵Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this matter seem evil in your eyes, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.' And encourage him.” ²⁶When Uriah's wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷When the mourning period was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

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4/11/2026

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