| English Standard Version | International Standard Version |
| 1In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. | 1One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff and all of Israel's army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. |
| 2It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. | 2Late one afternoon about dusk, David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there he watched a woman taking a bath, and she was very beautiful to look at. |
| 3And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” | 3David sent word to inquire about her, and someone told him, "This is Eliam's daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn't it?" |
| 4So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. | 4So David sent some messengers, took her from her home, and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.) Then she returned to her home. |
| 5And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” | 5The woman conceived, and she sent this message to David: "I'm pregnant." |
| 6So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. | 6So David summoned Joab, and told him, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. |
| 7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. | 7When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was doing, and how the war was progressing. |
| 8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. | 8Then David told Uriah, "Go on down to your house and relax a while." So Uriah left the king's palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. |
| 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. | 9But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king's palace in the company of all his master's staff members. He refused to go down to his own home. |
| 10When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” | 10When David was told that Uriah hadn't gone home the previous night, he quizzed him, "You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn't you go down to your own house?" |
| 11Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to 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.” | 11Uriah replied, "The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master's staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life! I won't do something like this, will I?" |
| 12Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. | 12Then David invited Uriah, "Stay here today, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. |
| 13And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. | 13Then at David's invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord's servants, and he did not go down to his house. |
| 14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. | 14The next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. |
| 15In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” | 15In the message, he wrote: "Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed." |
| 16And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. | 16So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed. |
| 17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. | 17When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David's army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too. |
| 18Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. | 18Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. |
| 19And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, | 19He instructed the courier, "When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, |
| 20then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? | 20if the king starts to get angry and asks you, 'Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot from the wall? |
| 21Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not 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.’” | 21Who killed Jerubbesheth's son Abimelech? Didn't a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' then tell him, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'" |
| 22So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. | 22So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem, and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. |
| 23The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. | 23The messenger told David, "The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. |
| 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” | 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well." |
| 25David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.” | 25David responded to the messenger, "Here's what you're to tell Joab: 'Don't be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.' Be sure to encourage him." |
| 26When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. | 26When Uriah's wife heard about the death of her husband Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household. |
| 27And when the 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. | 27When her mourning period was completed, David sent for her, brought her to his palace, and she became his wife. Later on, she bore him a son. Meanwhile, what David had done grieved the LORD, |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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