^aThen it happened ^1bin the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they brought destruction on the sons of Ammon and ^cbesieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

2 Now at evening time David got up from his bed and walked around on ^athe roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3 So David sent servants and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not ^aBathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^bUriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers and ¹had her brought, and when she came to him, ^ahe slept with her; ^band when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 But the woman conceived; so she sent word and informed David, and said, “^aI am pregnant.”

6 Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, ^aDavid asked about Joab’s well-being and ¹that of the people, and the condition of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and ^awash your feet.” So Uriah left the king’s house, and a gift from the king ¹was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept ^aat the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 Now when they informed 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, “^aThe ark and Israel and Judah are staying in ¹temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and ^bthe servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “^aStay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the day after. 13 Now David summoned ¹Uriah, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he ^amade ²Uriah drunk; and in the evening Uriah went out to lie on his bed ^bwith his lord’s servants, and he still did not go down to his house.

14 So in the morning David ^awrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 ^aHe had written in the letter ¹the following: “²Station Uriah on the front line of the ³fiercest battle and pull back from him, ^bso that he may be struck and killed.” 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he ¹stationed Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and ^aUriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent a messenger and reported to David all the events of the war. 19 He ordered the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, 20 then it shall be that if the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you move against the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who ^astruck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you move against the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”

22 So the messenger departed and came and reported to David everything that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we ¹pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 Also, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “This is what you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing ¹displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; ²fight with determination against the city and overthrow it’; and thereby encourage him.”

26 Now when Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, ^ashe mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was over, David sent servants and ¹had her brought to his house and ^ashe became his wife; then she bore him a son. But ^bthe thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.