2 Samuel 11-13

1In the spring, 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.

2One 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.

3So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

4Then 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.

5And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

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

7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.

8Then 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.

9But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

10And 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?”

11Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, 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.

13Then 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.

14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

15In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

16So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.

17And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

18Joab sent to David a full account of the battle

19and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle,

20if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?

21Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

22So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.

23The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

25Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

26When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

27And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

1Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,

3but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him.

4Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.”

5David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

6Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

7Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

8I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

9Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

11This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

12You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”

15After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

16David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.

17The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

18On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.”

19When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied.

20Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

21“What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”

22David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’

23But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

24Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child

25and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah because the LORD loved him.

26Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.

27Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.

28Now, therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

29So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; and he fought against it and captured it.

30Then he took the crown from the head of their king. It weighed a talent of gold and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on David’s head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

31David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

1After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.

2Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

3Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,

4and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

5Jonadab told him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.’”

6So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”

7Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.”

8So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them.

9Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out.

10Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom.

11And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!”

12“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!

13Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

14But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.

15Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”

16“No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her.

17Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”

18So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore.

19And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.

20Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

21When King David heard all this, he was furious.

22And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.

23Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.

24And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?”

25“No, my son,” the king replied, “we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing.

26“If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” “Why should he go with you?” the king asked.

27But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons.

28Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

29So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.

30While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!”

31Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

32But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar.

33So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the sons of the king are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

34Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”

35So Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the sons of the king have arrived! It is just as your servant said.”

36And as he finished speaking, the sons of the king came in, wailing loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.

37Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.

38After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years.

39And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death.