² Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed ^(A)and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he ^(B)saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not ^[a]Bathsheba, the daughter of ^[b]Eliam, the wife ^(C)of Uriah the ^(D)Hittite?” ⁴ Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and ^(E)he lay with her, for she was ^(F)cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. ⁵ And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

¹⁴ In the morning it happened that David ^(A)wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the ^[a]hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may ^(B)be struck down and die.” ¹⁶ So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war,

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she ^(A)became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done ^(B)displeased^[a] the Lord.

^13 (A)So David said to Nathan, ^(B)“I have sinned against the Lord.”

And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has ^(C)put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord ^(D)to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan departed to his house.

The Death of David’s Son

And the ^(E)Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill.