rsv 2Samuel:11-12 SEEK
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*
In the spring of the year ,
the time when kings go forth to battle ,
David sent Jo '
ab ,
and his servants with him ,
and all Israel ;
and they ravaged the Ammonites ,
and besieged Rabbah .
But David remained at Jerusalem .
*
It happened ,
late one afternoon ,
when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king '
s house ,
that he saw from the roof a woman bathing ;
and the woman was very beautiful .
*
And David sent and inquired about the woman .
And one said , "
Is not this Bathshe '
ba ,
the daughter of Eli '
am ,
the wife of Uri '
ah the Hittite ?"
*
So David sent messengers ,
and took her ;
and she came to him ,
and he lay with her . (
Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness .)
Then she returned to her house .
*
And the woman conceived ;
and she sent and told David , "
I am with child ."
*
So David sent word to Jo '
ab , "
Send me Uri '
ah the Hittite ."
And Jo '
ab sent Uri '
ah to David .
*
When Uri '
ah came to him ,
David asked how Jo '
ab was doing ,
and how the people fared ,
and how the war prospered .
*
Then David said to Uri '
ah , "
Go down to your house ,
and wash your feet ."
And Uri '
ah went out of the king '
s house ,
and there followed him a present from the king .
*
But Uri '
ah slept at the door of the king '
s house with all the servants of his lord ,
and did not go down to his house .
*
When they told David , "
Uri '
ah did not go down to his house ,"
David said to Uri '
ah , "
Have you not come from a journey ?
Why did you not go down to your house ?"
*
Uri '
ah said to David , "
The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths ;
and my lord Jo '
ab 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 ."
*
Then David said to Uri '
ah , "
Remain here today also ,
and tomorrow I will let you depart ."
So Uri '
ah remained in Jerusalem that day ,
and the next .
*
And 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 .
*
In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo '
ab ,
and sent it by the hand of Uri '
ah .
*
In the letter he wrote , "
Set Uri '
ah in the forefront of the hardest fighting ,
and then draw back from him ,
that he may be struck down ,
and die ."
*
And as Jo '
ab was besieging the city ,
he assigned Uri '
ah to the place where he knew there were valiant men .
*
And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo '
ab ;
and some of the servants of David among the people fell .
Uri '
ah the Hittite was slain also .
*
Then Jo '
ab sent and told David all the news about the fighting ;
*
and he instructed the messenger , "
When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king ,
*
then ,
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 ?
*
Who killed Abim '
elech the son of Jerub '
besheth ?
Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall ,
so that he died at Thebez ?
Why did you go so near the wall ?'
then you shall say , `
Your servant Uri '
ah the Hittite is dead also .'"
*
So the messenger went ,
and came and told David all that Jo '
ab had sent him to tell .
*
The 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 .
*
Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall ;
some of the king '
s servants are dead ;
and your servant Uri '
ah the Hittite is dead also ."
*
David said to the messenger , "
Thus shall you say to Jo '
ab , `
Do not let this matter trouble you ,
for the sword devours now one and now another ;
strengthen your attack upon the city ,
and overthrow it .'
And encourage him ."
*
When the wife of Uri '
ah heard that Uri '
ah her husband was dead ,
she made lamentation for her husband .
*
And 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 .
*
And the LORD sent Nathan to David .
He came to him ,
and said to him , "
There were two men in a certain city ,
the one rich and the other poor .
*
The rich man had very many flocks and herds ;
*
but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb ,
which he had bought .
And he brought it up ,
and it grew up with him and with his children ;
it used to eat of his morsel ,
and drink from his cup ,
and lie in his bosom ,
and it was like a daughter to him .
*
Now there came a traveler to the rich man ,
and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him ,
but he took the poor man '
s lamb ,
and prepared it for the man who had come to him ."
*
Then David '
s anger was greatly kindled against the man ;
and he said to Nathan , "
As the LORD lives ,
the man who has done this deserves to die ;
*
and he shall restore the lamb fourfold ,
because he did this thing ,
and because he had no pity ."
*
Nathan said to David , "
You are the man .
Thus says the LORD ,
the God of Israel , `
I anointed you king over Israel ,
and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul ;
*
and I gave you your master '
s house ,
and your master '
s wives into your bosom ,
and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah ;
and if this were too little ,
I would add to you as much more .
*
Why have you despised the word of the LORD ,
to do what is evil in his sight ?
You have smitten Uri '
ah the Hittite with the sword ,
and have taken his wife to be your wife ,
and have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites .
*
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house ,
because you have despised me ,
and have taken the wife of Uri '
ah the Hittite to be your wife .'
*
Thus says the LORD , `
Behold ,
I will raise up evil against you out of your own house ;
and I will take your wives before your eyes ,
and give them to your neighbor ,
and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun .
*
For you did it secretly ;
but I will do this thing before all Israel ,
and before the sun .'"
*
David said to Nathan , "
I have sinned against the LORD ."
And Nathan said to David , "
The LORD also has put away your sin ;
you shall not die .
*
Nevertheless ,
because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD ,
the child that is born to you shall die ."
*
Then Nathan went to his house .
And the LORD struck the child that Uri '
ah '
s wife bore to David ,
and it became sick .
*
David therefore besought God for the child ;
and David fasted ,
and went in and lay all night upon the ground .
*
And the elders of his house stood beside him ,
to raise him from the ground ;
but he would not ,
nor did he eat food with them .
*
On the seventh day the child died .
And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead ;
for they said , "
Behold ,
while the child was yet alive ,
we spoke to him ,
and he did not listen to us ;
how then can we say to him the child is dead ?
He may do himself some harm ."
*
But when David saw that his servants were whispering together ,
David perceived that the child was dead ;
and David said to his servants , "
Is the child dead ?"
They said , "
He is dead ."
*
Then David arose from the earth ,
and washed ,
and anointed himself ,
and changed his clothes ;
and he went into the house of the LORD ,
and worshiped ;
he then went to his own house ;
and when he asked ,
they set food before him ,
and he ate .
*
Then his servants said to him , "
What is this thing that you have done ?
You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive ;
but when the child died ,
you arose and ate food ."
*
He said , "
While the child was still alive ,
I fasted and wept ;
for I said , `
Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me ,
that the child may live ?'
*
But now he is dead ;
why should I fast ?
Can I bring him back again ?
I shall go to him ,
but he will not return to me ."
*
Then David comforted his wife ,
Bathshe '
ba ,
and went in to her ,
and lay with her ;
and she bore a son ,
and he called his name Solomon .
And the LORD loved him ,
*
and sent a message by Nathan the prophet ;
so he called his name Jedidi '
ah ,
because of the LORD .
*
Now Jo '
ab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites ,
and took the royal city .
*
And Jo '
ab sent messengers to David ,
and said , "
I have fought against Rabbah ;
moreover ,
I have taken the city of waters .
*
Now ,
then ,
gather the rest of the people together ,
and encamp against the city ,
and take it ;
lest I take the city ,
and it be called by my name ."
*
So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah ,
and fought against it and took it .
*
And he took the crown of their king from his head ;
the weight of it was a talent of gold ,
and in it was a precious stone ;
and it was placed on David '
s head .
And he brought forth the spoil of the city ,
a very great amount .
*
And he brought forth the people who were in it ,
and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes ,
and made them toil at the brickkilns ;
and thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites .
Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem .
*
Now Ab '
salom ,
David '
s son ,
had a beautiful sister ,
whose name was Tamar ;
and after a time Amnon ,
David '
s son ,
loved her .