2 Samuel 11-12New King James Version (NKJV)
David, Bathsheba, and Uriah
11 It happened in the spring of the year, at the
time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his
servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and
besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2 Then it happened one evening that
David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from
the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very
beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired
about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not
Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then
David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her,
for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And
the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with
child.”
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send
me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When
Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were
doing, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said
to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from
the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed
him. 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 So when they told David, saying, “Uriah
did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a
journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11 And Uriah said to David, “The ark
and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants
of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat
and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your
soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
12 Then David said to Uriah, “Wait
here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in
Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Now when David
called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening
he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go
down to his house.
14 In the morning it happened that
David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of
Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set
Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may
be struck down and die.” 16 So it was, while Joab
besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant
men. 17 Then the men of the city came out and
fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of
David fell; 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 you have finished telling the matters of the war to
the king, 20 if it happens that the king’s wrath
rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you
fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who
struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth?[a] Was it not a woman who
cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez?
Why did you go 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 by him. 23 And
the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out
to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the
gate. 24 The archers shot from the wall at your
servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your
servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
25 Then David said to the messenger,
“Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the
sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city,
and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that
Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And
when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she
became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done
displeased the Lord.
Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession
12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.
And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich
and the other poor. 2 The rich man had
exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the
poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had
bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children.
It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it
was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came
to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd
to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor
man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly
aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives,
the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And
he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because
he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David,
“You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel:
‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of
Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your
master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.
And if that had been too little, I also would have given you
much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment
of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and
have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now
therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have
despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your
wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will
raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives
before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall
lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For
you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all
Israel, before the sun.’”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have
sinned against the Lord.”
And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put
away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However,
because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of
the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to
you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to
his house.
The Death of David’s Son
And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife
bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David
therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay
all night on the ground. 17 So the elders of his
house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground.
But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 Then
on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of
David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed,
while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice.
How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”
19 When David saw that his servants
were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said
to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
And they said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground,
washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the
house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and
when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then
his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done?
You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when
the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 And he said, “While the child was
alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord[b] will be gracious to
me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is
dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he
shall not return to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his
wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he[c] called his name
Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25 and
He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he[d] called his name
Jedidiah,[e] because of
the Lord.
Rabbah Is Captured
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of
the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And
Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I
have taken the city’s water supply. 28 Now
therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city
and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.” 29 So
David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it,
and took it. 30 Then he took their king’s crown
from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious
stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out
the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31 And he
brought out the people who were in it, and put them to
work with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them cross over
to the brick works. So he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then
David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
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