2 Samuel 11

It happened, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Dawud sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But Dawud stayed at Jerusalem. ²It happened at evening, that Dawud arose from off 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 look on. ³Dawud sent and inquired about the woman. One said, Is this not Bathsheba Bint Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? ⁴Dawud sent messengers, and brought her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house. ⁵The woman conceived; and she sent and told Dawud, and said, I am with child. ⁶Dawud sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. Joab sent Uriah to Dawud. ⁷When Uriah came to him, Dawud asked him how Joab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. ⁸Dawud said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a gift of food from the king. ⁹But 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. ¹⁰When they told Dawud that Uriah did not go down to his house, Dawud said to Uriah, Haven't you come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? ¹¹Uriah said to Dawud, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. ¹²Dawud said to Uriah, Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next day. ¹³When Dawud had called him, he ate and drink before him; and he made Uriah drunk: and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but did not go down to his house. ¹⁴In the morning Dawud wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵He wrote in the letter, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die. ¹⁶It happened, when Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷The men of the city came out, and fought with Joab: and some of the people of the servants of Dawud fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also. ¹⁸Then Joab sent and told Dawud all the things concerning the war; ¹⁹and he charged the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king, ²⁰it shall be that, if the king's wrath arise, and he tells you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Didn't you know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹Who struck Abimelech Ibn Jerubbesheth? Didn't a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"

²²So the messenger went, and came and told Dawud all that Joab had sent by him. ²³The messenger said to Dawud, The men prevailed against us, and came out to us in the field, and we drove them back even to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. ²⁵Then Dawud said to the messenger, Thus shall you tell Joab, Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage him. ²⁶When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷When the mourning was past, Dawud sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that Dawud had done displeased Allah.