English · KJV

2 Samuel 11

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba 1–5

1
And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. ​
2
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. ​
3
And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? ​
4
And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. ​
5
And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. ​

The Attempted Cover-Up 6–13

6
And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. ​
7
And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
8
And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
9
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. ​
10
And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11
And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. ​
12
And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13
And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. ​

David Arranges Uriah’s Murder 14–25

14
And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ​
15
And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. ​
16
And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17
And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. ​
18
Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19
And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
20
And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
21
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. ​
22
So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23
And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
24
And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
25
Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him. ​

The Aftermath and God's Displeasure 26–27

26
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27
And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Samuel 11

Verse 1

at the time when kings go forth to battle — 'After the year was expired' is literally the return of the year, the spring season (1 Kings 20:22). Joab leads the army and 'besieged Rabbah' (1 Chr 20:1), 'But David tarried still at Jerusalem'; yashab, to sit, to stay.

Verse 2

from the roof he saw a woman washing herself — The roof (gag) was the flat top of the house; the eye leads the way here, as Job 31:1 warns: 'I made a covenant with mine eyes'. Christ traces adultery to the look: 'looketh on a woman to lust after her' (Matt 5:28).

Verse 3

Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah — The answer names her father and her husband, so David knew she was married. Uriah the Hittite is among David's thirty-seven mighty men (2 Sam 23:39), and an Eliam 'the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite' is listed with them (2 Sam 23:34).

Verse 4

took her — Laqach, to take, with David's 'messengers' (mal'ak) as the means; the verse names no consent. 'Purified from her uncleanness' (tum'ah) points to the law of Lev 15:19–23, and shows the child could not be Uriah's. Nathan names this 'despised the commandment of the LORD' (2 Sam 12:9).

Verse 5

I am with child — The whole message, from harah, to conceive. The law gave death to both adulterer and adulteress: 'then they shall both of them die' (Deut 22:22). The woman's word turns the hidden sin into something that cannot be hidden, and sets in motion the plotting of vv.6–15.

Verse 6

Send me Uriah the Hittite — The first step of the cover-up: Joab, at the siege, is sent a command with no reason given, and 'Joab sent Uriah to David'. The verb shalach, to send, runs through the chapter: David sends in vv.1, 3, 4 and 6, and Bathsheba in v.5.

Verse 9

slept at the door of the king's house — Uriah lay 'with all the servants of his lord', the king's guard, and 'went not down to his house'. David's word of v.8, 'Go down to thy house', is not obeyed, and v.11 gives the reason. The 'mess of meat' sent from the king followed him in vain.

Verse 11

The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents — Uriah names the ark first, then the army 'encamped in the open fields'. His oath, 'as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth', is the form of 1 Sam 1:26. The ark was in tents while David dwelt 'in an house of cedar' (2 Sam 7:2).

Verse 13

he made him drunk — Shakar, to become tipsy; David feasts Uriah 'before him' to loosen his resolve. The act falls under the woe of Hab 2:15, 'giveth his neighbour drink… and makest him drunken also'. Even so, Uriah 'went not down to his house'.

Verse 14

David wrote a letter to Joab — The sepher, a written document, is carried 'by the hand of Uriah', who carries his own sentence. Written orders for a killing recur in 1 Kings 21:8–10, where Jezebel writes letters in Ahab's name against Naboth.

Verse 15

the forefront of the hottest battle — 'Hottest' is chazaq, strong, the fiercest point of the fight; 'retire ye from him' leaves him alone, 'that he may be smitten, and die'. Nathan calls it by name: 'thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword' (2 Sam 12:9).

Verse 17

Uriah the Hittite died also — Others of David's servants fall with him, so the loss reads as an ordinary casualty of war. Yet the LORD's charge is that David 'hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon' (2 Sam 12:9).

Verse 21

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? — Jerubbesheth is the name of Gideon, called Jerubbaal in Judges 6:32. At Thebez 'a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head' (Judg 9:53). Joab expects the king's anger over fighting near the wall, and supplies the answer: 'Uriah the Hittite is dead also'.

Verse 25

the sword devoureth one as well as another — The sword 'devours' (akal, to eat) without choosing. David's 'Let not this thing displease thee' is literally, let it not be evil in your eyes (ayin), the same idiom the chapter closes with in v.27, where the thing is evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Verse 27

displeased the LORD — Literally the thing was evil in the eyes of the LORD, the same idiom as David's 'Let not this thing displease thee' (v.25); the king's verdict is set against God's. After mourning (ebel), David 'fetched' her (asaph, gathered) and she bore a son.