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The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, David sent out Joab with his officers and the Israelite army; they defeated the Ammonites and besieged the city of Rabbah. But David himself stayed in Jerusalem.
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One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked around up there, he saw a woman taking a bath in her house. She was very beautiful.
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So he sent a messenger to find out who she was, and learned that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
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David sent messengers to get her; they brought her to him and he made love to her. (She had just finished her monthly ritual of purification.) Then she went back home.
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Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.
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David then sent a message to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent him to David.
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When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going.
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Then he said to Uriah, "Go on home and rest a while." Uriah left, and David had a present sent to his home.
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But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards.
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When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him, "You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home?"
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Uriah answered, "The men of Israel and Judah are away in battle, and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By all that's sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!"