II Samuel 11 David commits adultery and murder

 II Samuel 11

David commits adultery and murder

1 And it came to pass, when a year had passed, in the time that kings went out, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, that they might destroy the children of Ammon, and besiege Rabbah; but David stayed in Jerusalem.

2 And it came to pass in the evening that David arose from his bed, and was walking on the roof of the royal house, and he saw a woman from the terrace that was washing herself: and this woman was very fair to look upon.

3 And David sent, and asked for that woman, and they said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

4 Then David sent messengers, and sent for her to fetch: and she went in to him, and lay with her (and she was already cleansed from her filthiness): and she returned to her house.

5 And the woman conceived; and she sent, and told David, and said, I am heavy.

6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was, and how the people were, and how the war was going.

8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. And Uriah, leaving the royal house, soon followed after him, the king's delicacy.

9 But Uriah lay down at the door of the royal house, with all his lord's servants: and did not go down to his house.

10 And they told David, saying, Uriah went not down to his house. Then said David to Uriah: Do you not come from a journey? why didn't you go down to your house?

11 And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah are in tents; and Joab my lord and my lord's servants are encamped in the field; and shall I go into my house, to eat and drink, and to lie down with my wife? For your life, and for the life of your soul, I will do no such thing.

12 Then David said to Uriah, Stay here today, and tomorrow I will send you away. Uriah for remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 David invited him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk: and in the evening he went out to lie down on his bed with his lord's servants; but he did not go down to his house.

14 And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab: and he sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 He Wrote in the letter saying: Set a, Uriah before the greatest strength of the battle; and withdraw from behind him that he may be wounded and die.

16 So it came to pass, when Joab had observed the city well, that he put Uriah in the place where he knew that there were mighty men.

17 And when the men went out of the city, and fought with Joab, some of the people of David's servants fell: and Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 So he sent Joab, and told David all the success of that battle.

19 And he commanded the messenger, saying, When you have finished telling the king all the success of this battle;

20 And when the king should be angry, and say unto thee, Why have ye come so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that you would throw from the wall?

21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubeseth? Didn't a woman throw a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, from which he died in Tebez? Why did you come to the wall? Then shalt thou say, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

22 And the messenger went, and went in, and told David all that Joab had sent him.

23 And the messenger said to David, Verily those men were mightier than we were, and they came out to us in the field: but we went against them even to the entrance of the gate.

24 Then the archers shot at thy servants from the top of the wall, and some of the king's servants died: and thy servant Uriah the Hittite died also.

25 And David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to Joab, Let it not seem evil to thy sight; for the sword consumes this as well as that: strive thy battle against the city, and defeat: exert it thou thus.

26 When Uriah's wife heard that Uriah her husband was slain, she lamented to her lord.

27 And when he was disgusted, he sent David to gather her into his house, and she was his wife, and she bore him a son. But this thing that David did looked bad in the eyes of the Lord.