David Sins with Bathsheba

11 In the spring, when the kings normally went out to war, David sent out Joab, his ·servants [officers; army], and all the Israelites. They ·destroyed [massacred; ravaged] the Ammonites and ·attacked [besieged] the city of Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. ² One ·evening [afternoon] David got up from his ·bed [midday rest] and walked around on the roof [^Cthe flat roofs of Israelite houses were used for living space] of ·his palace [^Lthe king’s house]. While he was on the roof, he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful. ³ So David sent his servants to find out who she was. A servant answered, “That woman is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite [^CHittites were foreigners, but he joined the Israelite cause].” ⁴ So David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him. When she came to him, he ·had sexual relations [^Llay] with her. (Now Bathsheba had purified herself from her ·monthly period [^Luncleanness; Lev. 15:19–24].) Then she went back to her house. ⁵ But Bathsheba ·became pregnant [conceived] and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent a message to Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go home and ·rest [^Lwash your feet; ^Cperhaps a euphemism for sex].”

So Uriah left the ·palace [^Lking’s house], and the king sent a gift to him. ⁹ But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept outside the door of the palace as all the king’s ·officers [guard; ^Lservants] did.

¹⁰ The officers told David, “Uriah did not go home.”

Then David said to Uriah, “You came from a long trip. Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ Uriah said to him, “The Ark and the soldiers of Israel and Judah are staying in ·tents [booths; ^Ctemporary shelters]. My ·master [lord; commander] Joab and his officers are camping out in the fields. ·It isn’t right for me to [^LHow can I…?] go home to eat and drink and ·have sexual relations [^Llie] with my wife [^Cthus rendering himself ritually unclean and unable to go into the presence of the Ark; Lev. 15:16–18]!”

¹² David said to Uriah, “Stay here today. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Then David called Uriah to come to see him, so Uriah ate and drank with David. David made Uriah drunk, but he still did not go home. That evening Uriah again slept with the king’s ·officers [guard; ^Lservants].

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter David wrote, “Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is ·worst [fiercest; hardest] and ·leave him there alone [then pull back/withdraw]. Let him be ·killed in battle [^Lstruck down and die].”

¹⁶ Joab ·watched [or besieged] the city and saw where its ·strongest defenders [valiant men] were and put Uriah there. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out to fight against Joab, some of David’s men ·were killed [^Lfell]. And Uriah the Hittite was one of them.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent David a complete ·account [report] of the ·war [battle; fighting]. ¹⁹ Joab told the messenger, “Tell King David what happened in the ·war [battle; fighting]. ²⁰ After you finish, the king may be angry and ask, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the city wall? ²¹ Do you remember who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth [^Canother name for Gideon]? It was a woman on the city wall. She threw a large stone for grinding grain on Abimelech and killed him there in Thebez [Judg. 9:50–57]. Why did you go so near the wall?’ If King David asks that, tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”

²² The messenger left and went to David and told him everything Joab had told him to say. ²³ The messenger told David, “The men of Ammon were ·winning [gaining an advantage over us]. They came out and attacked us in the field, but we ·fought [drove; chased] them back to the city gate. ²⁴ The archers on the city wall shot at your servants, and some of ·your men [^Lthe king’s servants] were killed. Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.”

²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t be ·upset [discouraged; troubled] about this. The sword ·kills everyone the same [^Ldevours first one and then another]. ·Make a stronger attack [Fight harder; Press your attack] against the city and capture it.’ Encourage Joab with these words.”

²⁶ When ·Bathsheba [^Lthe wife of Uriah] heard that her husband was dead, she ·cried [mourned] for him. ²⁷ After she finished her time of ·sadness [mourning], David sent servants to bring her to his house. She became David’s wife and gave birth to his son, but the Lord was displeased with what David had done.

David’s Son Dies

12 The Lord sent Nathan [^Ca prophet who was in the king’s court; 7:2–17] to David. When he came to David, he said, “There were two men in a city. One was rich, but the other was poor. ² The rich man had many ·sheep [flocks] and ·cattle [herds]. ³ But the poor man had nothing except one little ·female [ewe] lamb he had bought. The poor man fed the lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It ·shared his food [^Late from his plate] and drank from his cup and slept in his ·arms [^Lbosom]. The lamb was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to feed the traveler, but he ·didn’t want [was unwilling/loath] to take one ·of his own sheep or cattle [from his own flock or herd]. Instead, he took the lamb from the poor man and ·cooked [^Lprepared] it for his visitor.”

⁵ David ·became very angry at [^Lburned with anger against] the rich man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this ·should [deserves to] die! ⁶ He must ·pay for the lamb four times [repay four lambs] for doing such a thing [Ex. 22:1]. He had no ·mercy [pity; compassion]!”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are ·the [that] man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I ·appointed [anointed] you king of Israel and [^LI] ·saved [rescued; delivered] you from [^Lthe hand of] Saul. ⁸ I gave you ·his kingdom [^Lyour master’s house] and his wives [^Linto your arms/bosom]. And I ·made you king [^Lgave you the house] of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you ·even [much] more. ⁹ So why did you ·ignore the Lord’s command [^Ldespise the word of the Lord]? Why did you do what ·he says is wrong [^Lis evil in his sight/eyes]? You ·killed [^Lstruck down] Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and took his wife to be your wife! ¹⁰ ·Now [Therefore] ·there will always be people in your family who will die by a sword [^Lthe sword will never depart from your house], because you ·did not respect [^Lhave despised] me; you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself!’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am ·bringing trouble to [^Lraising up evil against] you from your own ·family [^Lhouse]. ·While you watch [^LBefore your eyes], I will take your wives from you and give them to ·someone who is very close to you [^Lyour neighbor]. He will ·have sexual relations [^Llie] with your wives, ·and everyone will know it [in broad daylight]. ¹² You ·had sexual relations with Bathsheba [^Ldid it] in secret, but I will do this ·so all the people of Israel can see it [^Lbefore all Israel in broad daylight; 16:21–22].’”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan answered, “The Lord has ·taken away [forgiven] your sin. You will not die [Ps. 51]. ¹⁴ But what you did ·caused the Lord’s enemies to lose all respect for him [or has shown utter contempt/scorn for the Lord]. For this reason the ·son [child] who was born to you will die.”

¹⁵ Then Nathan went home. And the Lord ·caused the son [^Lstruck the child] of David and Bathsheba, Uriah’s widow, ·to be [and he became] very sick. ¹⁶ David ·prayed to [pleaded with; begged; ^Linquired of] God for the baby. David fasted and went into his house and stayed there, lying on the ground all night. ¹⁷ The elders of David’s ·family [^Lhouse] ·came to [stood around] him and tried to pull him up from the ground, but he refused to get up or to eat food with them.

¹⁸ On the seventh day the baby died. David’s ·servants [advisers] were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to ·us [reason]. If we tell him the baby is dead, he may do ·something awful [something desperate; himself harm].”

¹⁹ When David saw his ·servants [advisers] whispering, he knew that the baby was dead. So he asked them, “Is the ·baby [child] dead?”

They answered, “Yes, he is dead.”

²⁰ Then David got up from the ·floor [ground], washed himself, ·put lotions on [anointed himself], and changed his clothes. Then he went into ·the Lord’s house [the Tabernacle; ^Lhis house] to worship. After that, he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.

²¹ David’s ·servants [advisers] said to him, “Why are you ·doing [behaving like] this? When the ·baby [child] was still alive, you fasted and you cried. Now that the ·baby [child] is dead, you get up and eat food.”

²² David said, “While the ·baby [child] was still alive, I fasted, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will ·feel sorry for [^Lbe gracious to] me and let the ·baby [child] live.’ ²³ But now that the ·baby [child] is dead, why should I fast? ·I can’t [^LCan I…?] bring him back to life. Someday I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”

²⁴ Then David ·comforted [consoled] Bathsheba his wife. He ·slept with [^Lwent in to] her and ·had sexual relations [^Llay] with her. She ·became pregnant again [conceived] and ·had another [^Lgave birth to a] son, whom ·David [or she; they] named Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon. ²⁵ The Lord sent word through Nathan the prophet to name the baby Jedidiah [^C“loved by the Lord”], ·because the Lord loved the child [^Lfor the Lord’s sake].