Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When ^[a]Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

David and Bathsheba

11 ^(A)Now it happened ^[a](B)in the spring, at the time when ^[b]kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and ^(C)besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

² Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on ^(D)the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. ³ So David sent and ^[c]inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not ^(E)Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^(F)Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and ^(G)he lay with her; ^(H)and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. ⁵ And the woman became pregnant; and she sent and told David, and said, “^(I)I am pregnant.”

⁶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, ^(J)David asked concerning the ^[d]state of Joab and the ^[e]state of the people and the ^[f]state of the war. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and ^(K)wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king went out after him. ⁹ But Uriah lay down ^(L)at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ Then they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” And David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ And Uriah said to David, “^(M)The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in ^[g]booths, and my lord Joab and ^(N)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? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” ¹² Then David said to Uriah, “^(O)Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you out.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the ^[h]next. ¹³ Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he ^(P)made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed ^(Q)with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ Now it happened in the morning that David ^(R)wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ^15 (S)And he had written in the letter, saying, “^[i]Place Uriah in the front line of the ^[j]fiercest battle and withdraw from him, ^(T)so that he may be struck down and die.” ¹⁶ So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ And the men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and ^(U)Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the events of the war. ¹⁹ And he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, ²⁰ and if it happens that the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you approach the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who ^(V)struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so he died at Thebez? Why did you approach the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

²² So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. ²³ And the messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we ^[k]pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ And the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.” ²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing be evil in your sight, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and ^[l]tear it down’; and so strengthen him.”

²⁶ Then the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband had died, so ^(W)she lamented over her husband. ²⁷ Then the time of mourning passed by, and David sent and gathered her to his house and ^(X)she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But ^(Y)the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

Yahweh Sends Nathan to David

12 Then Yahweh sent ^(Z)Nathan to David. And ^(AA)he came to him and ^[m]said,

⁵ Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, surely the man who has done this ^[o](AC)deserves to die. ⁶ And he must make restitution for the lamb ^(AD)fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷ Nathan then said to David, “^(AE)You are the man! Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^(AF)It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I also gave you ^(AG)your master’s house and your master’s wives into your ^[p]care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ⁹ Why ^(AH)have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in His sight? ^(AI)You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, ^(AJ)have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ So now, ^(AK)the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹ Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; ^(AL)I will even take your wives from before your sight and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ¹² Indeed ^(AM)you did it secretly, but ^(AN)I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “^(AO)I have sinned against Yahweh.” And Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has ^[q](AP)taken away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have ^(AQ)given occasion to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme, the son also that is born to you shall surely die.” ¹⁵ And Nathan went to his house.

David’s Child Dies

Then Yahweh smote the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, so that he was very sick. ¹⁶ David therefore sought God about the boy; and David ^(AR)fasted and went and ^(AS)spent the night lying on the ground. ^17 (AT)And the elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child has died? He might do himself harm!” ¹⁹ And David saw that his servants were whispering together, so David discerned that the child had died; so David said to his servants, “Has the child died?” And they said, “He has died.” ²⁰ So David arose from the ground, ^(AU)washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of Yahweh and ^(AV)worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and he asked, and they set food before him, and he ate.

²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? ^[r]While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” ²² Then he said, “While the child was still alive, ^(AW)I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘^(AX)Who knows, Yahweh may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ ²³ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? ^(AY)I will go to him, but ^(AZ)he will not return to me.”

Solomon Is Born

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and ^[s](BA)he named him Solomon. Now Yahweh loved him ²⁵ and sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him ^[t]Jedidiah for the sake of Yahweh.