David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,[fn] at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole [army] of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam[fn] and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

4 Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. ( Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. 5 And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

6 At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent [him] to David.

7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then [he] said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

10 And David was told “Uriah did not go home.”

“Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”

11 Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents,[fn] and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and [as] your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

12 “Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 Then David invited [Uriah] to eat and drink with him, and he got [Uriah] drunk. And in the evening [Uriah] went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.