To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

David’s Adultery

11 One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff^[a] and all of Israel’s army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. ² Late one afternoon about dusk,^[b] David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there^[c] he watched a woman taking a bath, and she^[d] was very beautiful to look at.

³ David sent word^[e] to inquire about her,^[f] and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba,^[g] the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” ⁴ So David sent some messengers, took her from her home,^[h] and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.)^[i] Then she returned to her home.

⁵ The woman conceived, and she sent this message^[j] to David: “I’m pregnant.”

⁶ So David summoned Joab, and told him,^[k] “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah arrived, David inquired about how Joab was doing, how the army was^[l] doing, and how the war was progressing.

⁸ Then David told Uriah, “Go on down to your house and relax a while.”^[m] So Uriah left the king’s palace, and the king sent a gift along after him. ⁹ But Uriah spent the night sleeping in the alcove of the king’s palace in the company of all his master’s staff members. He refused to go down to his own home.

¹⁰ When David was told that Uriah hadn’t gone home the previous night,^[n] he quizzed him,^[o] “You just arrived from a long journey, so why didn’t you go down to your own house?”

¹¹ Uriah replied, “The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master’s staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life!^[p] I won’t do something like this, will I?”

¹² Then David invited Uriah, “Stay here today, and tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem all that day and the next. ¹³ Then at David’s invitation, he and Uriah dined and drank wine together, and David got him drunk. Later that evening, Uriah went out to lie on a couch in the company of his lord’s servants, and he did not go down to his house.

David Orders Uriah Killed

¹⁴ The next morning, David sent a message to Joab that Uriah took with him in his hand. ¹⁵ In the message, he wrote: “Assign Uriah to the most difficult fighting at the battle front, and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab began to attack the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew valiant men would be stationed.^{[q] 17} When the men of the city came out to fight Joab, some of David’s army staff members fell, and Uriah the Hittite died, too.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent word to David about everything that had happened at the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the courier, “When you have finished conveying all the news about the battle to the king, ²⁰ if the king starts to get angry and asks you, ‘Why did you get so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Jerubbesheth’s^[r] son Abimelech? Didn’t a woman kill him by throwing an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then tell him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”

²² So the messenger left Joab, set out for Jerusalem,^[s] and disclosed to David everything that Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger told David, “The men surprised us and attacked us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s staff members are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite has died as well.”

²⁵ David responded to the messenger, “Here’s what you’re to tell Joab: ‘Don’t be troubled by this incident, because the battle sword consumes one or another from time to time. Consolidate your attack against the city and conquer it.’ Be sure to encourage him.”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard about the death of her husband^[t] Uriah, she went into mourning for the head of her household.^{[u] 27} When her mourning period was completed, David sent for her, brought her to his palace, and she became his wife. Later on, she bore him a son.

Meanwhile, what David had done grieved the Lord,^[v] 12 ¹ so the Lord sent Nathan to David.

Nathan’s Rebuke

Nathan^[w] approached David^[x] and said, “There are two men in the city. One is rich and one is poor. ² The rich man has many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing except for one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It used to share his food and drink from his own cup. It even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ A traveler arrived to visit the rich man. Because he was unwilling to take an animal from one of his own flocks or herds to prepare for the guest who had come to visit him, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to visit him.”

⁵ David flew into a rage at the man and told Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He will restore the lamb four times its value, because he did this thing, and because he did it without compassion.”

⁷ But Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

“‘I anointed you king—and you became king over Israel.

“‘I delivered you from Saul’s control.

⁸ “‘I gave you your former^[y] master’s household.

“‘I placed your former^[z] master’s wives right in your arms.

“‘I gave you^[aa] Israel and Judah.

“‘And if this had been too little, I would have added much more than that to you!

⁹ “‘Why did you despise what the Lord has promised by doing what is detestable in his sight?

“‘You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a battle sword.

“‘You took his wife to be your own.^[ab]

“‘You killed him with the sword of the Ammonite army.

¹⁰ “‘Therefore the sword will never leave your household, because you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’^[ac]

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says:

“‘Listen very carefully!

“‘I’m raising up evil against you right out of your own household.

“‘I’m going to take your wives away from you right before your eyes.

“‘Then I’ll give them to your neighbor.

“‘And then he’s going to have sex with your wives in broad daylight!

¹² “‘What you did in secret I’m going to do right in front of all Israel and in broad daylight as well!’”

¹³ At this point, David told Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan responded to David, “There’s one other thing: the Lord has forgiven your sin.^[ad] You won’t die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because you have despised the Lord’s enemies with utter contempt,^[ae] the son born to you will most certainly die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.

David’s Infant Son Dies

After this, the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child^[af] became very ill. ¹⁶ David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He^[ag] fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. ¹⁷ His closest advisors at the palace^[ah] got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn’t eat with them.

¹⁸ A week later, the child died, and David’s staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, “Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn’t listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?”

¹⁹ But as David observed his staff whispering together, he perceived that the child had died, so he asked his staff, “Is the child dead?”

They replied, “He has died.”

²⁰ At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the Lord’s tent^[ai] to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.

²¹ His staff asked him, “What’s this about? When the child was alive, you fasted and cried. Now that the child has died, you get up and eat!”

²² He answered, “When the child was alive, I fasted and cried. I asked myself, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will show grace to me and the child will live.’ ²³ But now that he has died, what’s the point of fasting? Can I bring him back again? I’ll be going to be with him, but he won’t be returning to me.”

The Birth of Solomon

²⁴ Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went in and had sex with her, and she bore a son whom he named Solomon. The Lord loved him, ²⁵ and sent a message written by Nathan the prophet to call his name Jedidiah,^[aj] for the Lord’s sake.