2Samuel:11-12
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And it came to pass ,
at the return of the same season of the year ,
at the time when kings go forth ,
that David sent Joab ,
and his servants with him ,
and all Israel ;
and they destroyed the children of
Ammon ,
and besieged Rabbah .
But David remained behind at Jerusalem .
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And it happened at evening
tide ,
that David arose from off his couch ,
and walked upon the roof of the king
s house :
and he saw from the roof a woman bathing herself ;
and the woman was of a very beautiful appearance .
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And David sent and inquired after the woman ;
and some one said ,
Behold ,
this is Beth
sheba ,
the daughter of Eli
am ,
the wife of Uriyah the Hittite .
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And David sent messengers ,
and took her ;
and she came in unto him ,
and he lay with her ,
and she had just purified herself from her uncleanness ;
and she returned unto her house .
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And the woman conceived ;
and she sent and told David ,
and said ,
I am with child .
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And David sent to Joab ,
Send unto me Uriyah the Hittite .
And Joab sent Uriyah to David .
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And when Uriyah was come unto him ,
David asked after the well
being of Joab ,
and after the well
being of the people ,
and how the war prospered .
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And David said to Uriyah ,
Go down to thy house ,
and wash thy feet .
And Uriyah went forth out of the king
s house ,
and there followed him a mess of food from the king .
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But Uriyah laid himself down at the door of the king
s house with all the servants of his lord ,
and went not down to his house .
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And they told David ,
saying ,
Uriyah is not gone down unto his house :
and David said unto Uriyah ,
Art thou not come from a journey ?
why then art thou not gone down unto thy own house ?
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Then said Uriyah unto David ,
The ark ,
and Israel ,
and Judah abide in booths ;
and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open field :
and should I alone go unto my house ,
to eat and to drink ,
and to lie with my wife ?
as thou livest ,
and as thy soul liveth ,
I will not do this thing .
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And David said unto Uriyah ,
Tarry here also this day ,
and tomorrow will I send thee off .
So Uriyah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the following .
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And David invited him ,
and he ate and drank before him ,
and he made him drunken ;
and he went out in the evening to lie down on his resting
place with the servants of his lord ;
but to his house he did not go down .
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And it came to pass in the morning ,
that David wrote a letter to Joab ,
and sent it by the hand of Uriyah .
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And he wrote in the letter ,
saying ,
Set Uriyah in front ,
opposite to the hottest fight ,
and then withdraw from behind him ,
that he may be smitten and die .
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And it came to pass ,
when Joab was enclosing the city ,
that he placed Uriyah toward the spot of which he knew that valiant men were there .
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And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab ;
and there fell some of the people ,
of the servants of David ,
and there died also Uriyah the Hittite .
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Then did Joab send ,
and told unto David all the events of the war .
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And he charged the messenger ,
saying ,
When thou hast finished telling all the events of the war to the king ,
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And it happen that the king
s wrath arise ,
and he say unto thee ,
Wherefore did you approach unto the city to fight ?
knew ye not ,
that they would shoot down from off the wall ?
*
Who smote Abimelech the son of Yerubbesheth ?
did not a woman throw down upon him a piece of an upper mill
stone from off the wall so that he died at Thebez ?
why did ye approach unto the wall ?
then must thou say ,
Also thy servant Uriyah the Hittite is dead .
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And the messenger went ,
and came and told unto David all for which Joab had sent him .
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And the messenger said unto David ,
Because the men overpowered us and came out against us into the field ;
but we set upon them ,
as far as the entrance of the gate .
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And the archers then shot at thy servants from off the wall ;
and there died some of the servants of the king ,
and also thy servant Uriyah the Hittite is dead .
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Then said David to the messenger ,
Thus shalt thou say to Joab ,
Let this thing not be displeasing in thy eyes ;
for at times this ,
at other times the other will the sword devour ;
continue firmly in thy war against the city ,
and overthrow it :
and thus do thou encourage him .
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And when the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband had died ,
she mourned for her lord .
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And when the mourning was past ,
David sent and took her to his house ,
and she became his wife ;
and she bore him a son .
But the thing which David had done was displeasing in the eyes of the Lord .
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And the Lord sent Nathan unto David ,
and he came unto him and said to him ,
Two men were once in one city ,
the one rich and the other poor .
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The rich man had flocks and herds ,
in great abundance .
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But the poor man had nothing ,
save one little ewe ,
which he had bought ;
and he nourished it ,
and it grew up with him and with his children together ;
of his bread it used to eat ,
and out of his cup it used to drink ,
and in his bosom it used to lie ,
and it was to him as a daughter .
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And there came a traveler unto the rich man ;
and he felt compunction to take from his own flocks and from his own herds to dress for the wayfarer that was come to him ;
but he took the ewe of the poor man ,
and dressed it for the man that was come to him .
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And the anger of David was greatly kindled against the man ;
and he said to Nathan ,
As the Lord liveth ,
surely the man that hath done this deserveth to die ;
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And the ewe he shall pay fourfold ,
for punishment that he hath done this thing ,
and because he had no compassion .
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Then said Nathan to David ,
Thou art the man !
Thus hath said the Lord ,
the God of Israel ,
It is I who anointed thee as king over Israel ,
and it is I who delivered thee out of the hand of Saul ;
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And I gave unto thee the house of thy master ,
and the wives of thy master into thy bosom ,
and gave unto thee the house of Israel and Judah :
and if this be too little ,
I could bestow on thee yet many more like these things .
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Wherefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his eyes ?
Uriyah the Hittite hast thou smitten with the sword ,
and his wife hast thou taken unto thee for wife ;
but him hast thou slain with the sword of the children of
Ammon .
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And now ,
the sword shall not depart from thy house for ever ;
for the reason that thou hast despised me ,
and hast taken the wife of Uriyah the Hittite to be thy wife .
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Thus hath said the Lord ,
Behold ,
I will raise up against thee evil out of thy own house ,
and I will take away thy wives before thy eyes ,
and I will give them unto thy neighbor ;
and he shall lie with thy wives before the face of this sun .
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For thou hast done it in secret ;
but I will surely do this thing before all Israel ,
and before the sun .
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Then said David unto Nathan ,
I have sinned against the Lord .
And Nathan said to David ,
Also the Lord hath caused thy sin to pass away :
thou shalt not die .
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Nevertheless ,
because thou hast given great cause to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme through this thing ,
the child also that hath been born unto thee shall surely die .
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And Nathan went to his house ;
and the Lord struck the child that Uriyah
s wife had born unto David ,
that it became very sick .
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And David besought God in behalf of the lad ;
and David kept a fast ,
and came home ,
and lay over night upon the earth .
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And the elders of the house arose about him ,
to raise him up from the earth ;
but he would not ,
and he did not partake of any bread with them .
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And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died ;
and the servants of David were afraid to tell him ,
that the child was dead ;
for they said ,
Behold ,
while the child was yet alive ,
we spoke to him ,
and he would not hearken to our voice :
how then shall we say to him ,
The child is dead !
he might do a hurt .
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But when David saw that his servants were whispering to each other ,
David understood that the child was dead ;
wherefore David said unto his servants ,
Is the child dead ?
and they said ,
he is dead .
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David then rose up from the earth ,
and washed and anointed himself ,
and changed his garments ,
and went into the house of the Lord and prostrated himself ;
and then he came to his own house ,
and asked that they should set food before him ,
and he ate .
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And his servants then said unto him ,
What is this thing which thou hast done ?
On account of the child when living thou didst fast and weep ;
but as soon as the child was dead thou didst arise and eat bread !
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And he said ,
While the child was yet alive ,
I fasted and wept ;
because I said ,
Who knoweth ,
but that the Lord will be gracious to me ,
that the child may live ?
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But now he is dead ,
wherefore should I fast then ?
can I restore him again ?
I am going to him ;
but he will not return to me .
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And David comforted Bath
sheba
his wife ,
and he went in unto her ,
and lay with her ;
and she bore a son ,
and called his name Solomon ;
and the Lord loved him .
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And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet ,
and called his name ,
Yedideyah in behalf of the Lord .
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And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of
Ammon ,
and captured the royal city .
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And Joab sent messengers to David ;
and said ,
I have fought against Rabbah ,
and have also captured the water
town .
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And now gather the rest of the people together ,
and encamp against the city ,
and capture it :
lest I capture the city myself ,
and it be called by my name .
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And David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah ,
and fought against it ,
and captured it .
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And he took the crown of Malkam from off his head ,
and its weight was a talent of gold ,
and a precious stone ,
and it was set on the head of David ;
and the booty of the city he brought out in great abundance .
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And the people that were therein he brought forward ,
and put them under saws ,
and under iron threshing
wagons ,
and under axes of iron ,
and made them pass through brick
kilns ;
and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of
Ammon :
and David returned with them with all the people unto Jerusalem .
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And it came to pass after this ,
that Abshalom the son of David had a handsome sister ,
whose name was Thamar ;
and Amnon the son of David loved her .