2 Samuel 11:20

20 "if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn't you know they would shoot from the wall?

2 Samuel 11:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:20

And if so be that the king's wrath arise
Which might be seen in his countenance, or expressed in his words:

and he say, wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did
fight?
as to expose the king's troops to the enemy on the wall, who by stones or darts greatly annoyed them, or sallied out on them, and killed many of them:

knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
they must have known that, and therefore should have kept out of the reach of their shot.

2 Samuel 11:20 In-Context

18 Joab sent a complete report of the battle to David.

19 "When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king," Joab instructed the messenger,

20 "if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn't you know they would shoot from the wall?

21 Who killed Jerubbaal's son Abimelech? didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.'"

22 So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.