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The Blue Letter Bible

2 Samuel 11 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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David and Bathsheba

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:1 - In the spring of the year,[fn] when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:2 - Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:3 - He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:4 - Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:5 - Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:6 - Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:7 - When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:8 - Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.[fn]” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:9 - But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:10 - When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:11 - Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents,[fn] and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:12 - “Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:13 - Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
David Arranges for Uriah’s Death

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:14 - So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:15 - The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:16 - So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:17 - And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:18 - Then Joab sent a battle report to David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:19 - He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:20 - But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:21 - Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon[fn] killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:22 - So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:23

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:23 - “The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:24

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:24 - the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:25

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:25 - “Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:26

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:26 - When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 11:27

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 11:27 - When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew At the turn of the year. The first day of the year in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in March or April.
Hebrew and wash your feet, an expression that may also have a connotation of ritualistic washing.
Or at Succoth.
Hebrew son of Jerub-besheth. Jerub-besheth is a variation on the name Jerub-baal, which is another name for Gideon; see Judg 6:32.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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2 Samuel Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras