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Chapter 11 |
| 1 | And it came to
pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still
at Jerusalem. |
|
2 | And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David
arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: 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 after the woman. And one
said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite? |
| 4
| And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in
unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and
she returned unto her house. |
|
5 | And the woman conceived, and sent and
told David, and said, I am with child. |
| 6 | And David sent to Joab, saying,
Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. |
| 7 | And when
Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people
did, and how the war prospered. |
| 8 | And David said to Uriah, Go
down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's
house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. |
| 9 | But Uriah
slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and
went not down to his house. |
|
10 | And when they had told David, saying,
Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from
thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? |
| 11 | And
Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my
lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall
I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as
thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. |
| 12 | And
David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee
depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. |
| 13 | And
when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him
drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord,
but went not down to his house. |
| 14 | And it came to pass in the
morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of
Uriah. |
| 15
| And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the
forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be
smitten, and die. |
| 16 | And it came to pass, when Joab observed the
city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men
were. |
| 17 |
And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and
there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite
died also. |
| 18
| Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning
the war; |
| 19
| And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an
end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, |
| 20 | And if so be
that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so
nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from
the wall? |
| 21
| Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a
woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in
Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite
is dead also. |
|
22 | So the messenger went, and came and showed David
all that Joab had sent him for. |
| 23 | And the messenger said unto
David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the
field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. |
| 24 |
And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the
king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
|
| 25 | Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let
not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another:
make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage
thou him. |
| 26
| And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband
was dead, she mourned for her husband. |
| 27 | And when the mourning was
past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and
bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. |
