2 Samuel 11:1-5

David and Bathsheba

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,

3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

2 Samuel 11:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 11

This chapter begins with the destruction of the Ammonites, and the siege of Rabbah their chief city, 2Sa 11:1; and enlarges on the sins of David in committing adultery with Bathsheba, 2Sa 11:2-5; in contriving to conceal his sin by sending for her husband home from the army, 2Sa 11:6-13; in laying a scheme for the death of him by the hand of the Ammonites, 2Sa 11:14-25; and in marrying Bathsheba when he was dead, 2Sa 11:26,27.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 20:22,26
• 2. S 2 Samuel 2:18
• 3. 1 Chronicles 20:1
• 4. S Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 12:26-28
• 5. S Deuteronomy 22:8; S Joshua 2:8
• 6. Matthew 5:28
• 7. 1 Chronicles 3:5
• 8. 2 Samuel 23:34
• 9. 2 Samuel 23:39
• 10. S Leviticus 20:10; Psalms 51 Title; James 1:14-15
• 11. Deuteronomy 22:22
• 12. S Leviticus 15:25-30; Leviticus 18:19