2 Samuel 11

KJV · Chapter 11/24

¹And 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.

²And 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.

³And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath–sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

⁴And 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.

⁵And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

⁶And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

⁸And 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.

⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

¹⁰And 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?

¹¹And 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.

¹²And 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

¹⁷And 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.

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

¹⁹And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,

²⁰And 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?

²¹Who 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.

²²So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.

²³And 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.

²⁴And 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.

²⁵Then 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.

²⁶And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

²⁷And 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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

While his army is at war, David sees Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, bathing, and sends for her, getting her pregnant. To cover up the adultery, David tries to bring Uriah home from the battlefield, but fails, and then orders Joab to put him on the front line to die.

Explanation

This is one of the most serious episodes in the Bible concerning the moral fall of a respected leader. David, instead of being at the head of the army (as kings did at the time), stays home, and idleness opens the door to temptation. The sin of adultery leads to lies and finally to a calculated murder, showing how a hidden sin tends to demand more sin in order to stay concealed. The text is honest about David's failures, even though he is Israel's most celebrated king — the Bible does not portray its heroes as perfect. The chapter's closing line, 'the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,' sets up the confrontation in the next chapter.

Fun facts

Uriah the Hittite is listed among David's 'thirty mighty men' in 2 Samuel 23:39 — meaning he was one of the very king's most loyal and courageous soldiers, the one who betrayed him.
Uriah's refusal to go home while 'the ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents' reflects a military code of honor of the time: soldiers would abstain from domestic pleasures while in active service during war.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Samuel 11:1At the time when kings normally go out to war, David sends Joab and the army to besiege Rabbah, but he himself stays behind in Jerusalem—the decision that opens the door to everything that follows.
2 Samuel 11:2One evening, walking on the roof of the palace, David sees a very beautiful woman bathing—the beginning of the episode with Bathsheba.
2 Samuel 11:3David sends to inquire about the woman, and learns that she is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his own soldiers.
2 Samuel 11:4The note that Bathsheba had already been “purified from her uncleanness”—the post-menstrual ritual—makes clear she was not already pregnant by Uriah before this encounter: the child could only be David’s, which sets up the whole cover—up that follows.
2 Samuel 11:5Bathsheba conceives and sends word to David—the news that forces the king to act, trying to hide what he had done.
2 Samuel 11:6David sends for Uriah to be brought back from the front, planning to make it look like the child is his.
2 Samuel 11:7When Uriah arrives, David asks how the war is going, and about Joab and the troops—small talk covering the real purpose of the meeting.
2 Samuel 11:8David tells Uriah to go down to his house and rest, hoping he will sleep with his wife so the pregnancy will look like his own.
2 Samuel 11:9But Uriah sleeps at the door of the palace with the other servants of the king, without going down to his house, foiling David’s plan.
2 Samuel 11:10David asks Uriah why he did not go home after coming from a journey, not yet grasping the soldier’s loyalty.
2 Samuel 11:11Uriah refuses to sleep at home while the ark and the army, including Joab, are camped out in the open field—it reads like a soldier’s vow of solidarity or ritual purity on campaign, and it is precisely this loyalty that David tries to exploit to cover up Bathsheba’s pregnancy.
2 Samuel 11:12David tells Uriah to stay in Jerusalem one more day before he sends him off, trying once more to create the opportunity.
2 Samuel 11:13David deliberately gets Uriah drunk that night, but even drunk he sleeps among the king’s servants, without going home.
2 Samuel 11:14Seeing the plan fail, David writes a letter to Joab and sends it by the hand of Uriah himself, without his knowing what is written in it.
2 Samuel 11:15The order David writes and sends by Uriah’s own hand is to set the bearer in the fiercest fighting and then withdraw support—it is murder disguised as a combat death, using the war itself as a weapon to cover up the adultery.
2 Samuel 11:16Joab, following David’s order, puts Uriah exactly where he knows the enemy city’s strongest defenders are stationed.
2 Samuel 11:17In the battle that follows, several of David’s soldiers fall, and among them Uriah the Hittite dies—David’s plan is carried out.
2 Samuel 11:18Joab sends word to David reporting everything that happened in that engagement.
2 Samuel 11:19Joab instructs the messenger on how to report the battle to the king, anticipating that David might react in anger over the losses.
2 Samuel 11:20Joab anticipates that David will ask why the soldiers went so near the city wall, when they knew the risk of being struck.
2 Samuel 11:21Joab recalls the case of Abimelech, killed by a millstone thrown down from a wall, as an example of the danger—and tells the messenger to slip into the middle of the report that Uriah also died.
2 Samuel 11:22The messenger goes to David and reports everything exactly as Joab had instructed.
2 Samuel 11:23The messenger explains that the enemy came out stronger against them in the field, but David’s men managed to drive them back to the entrance of the gate.
2 Samuel 11:24He reports that the archers shot down at the servants from the wall, killing some of the king’s men, and that Uriah the Hittite was among the dead.
2 Samuel 11:25David sends word to Joab not to let this matter trouble him, since the sword devours one as well as another, and urges him to press on with the siege.
2 Samuel 11:26Bathsheba’s mourning masks what David had really done: he had sent Uriah to the front of the fiercest fighting precisely so he would die and the pregnancy could be covered up.
2 Samuel 11:27When the mourning is over, David brings her to his house and makes her his wife, and she bears him a son—but the chapter closes by stating plainly that the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

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