¹⁴ Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.”

¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked and wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.^(A)

⁸ If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.^(A)

David Has Uriah Killed

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.^{(A) 15} In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”^{(B) 16} As Joab kept watch over the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors. ¹⁷ The men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well.^{(C) 18} Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting, ¹⁹ and he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the news about the fighting, ²⁰ 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? ²¹ Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal?^[a] Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead, too.’ ”^(D)

²² So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. ²³ 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. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”