2 Samuel 11:12-22

12 Therefore David said to Uriah, Dwell thou here also today, and tomorrow I shall deliver thee. Uriah dwelled in Jerusalem in that day, and the tother (And so Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next day as well).
13 And David called him, that he should eat and drink before him, and David made drunken Uriah (and David made Uriah drunk); and he went out in the eventide, and slept in his bed with the servants of his lord; and went not down into his house.
14 Therefore when the morrowtide was made, David wrote [an] epistle to Joab, and sent (it) by the hand of Uriah,
15 and wrote in the epistle, Put ye Uriah even against the battle, where the battle is strongest, that is, where the adversaries be (the) strong(est), and forsake ye him, that he be smitten and perish (and leave ye him there, so that he can be struck down and die).
16 Therefore when Joab besieged the city, he setted Uriah in the place where he knew that (the) strongest men were.
17 And [the] men went out of the city, and fought against Joab, and they killed of the people of the servants of David, and also Uriah (the) Hittite was dead there. (And the men came out of the city, and fought against Joab, and they killed some of David's officers, and Uriah the Hittite was also killed.)
18 Therefore Joab sent, and told all the words of the battle; (And so Joab sent a message to David, telling him all about the battle;)
19 and he commanded to the messenger, and said, When thou hast fulfilled all the words of the battle to the king (When thou hast finished telling the king everything about the battle),
20 if thou seest, that he is wroth, and saith, Why nighed ye to the wall to fight? whether ye knew not, that many darts, (or arrows,) (would) be sent out from the wall above?
21 who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? whether not a woman sent on him a gobbet of a millstone from the wall, and killed him in Thebez? why nighed ye beside the wall? thou shalt say, Also thy servant, Uriah (the) Hittite, died. (do ye not recall who struck down Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman send down a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall above, and killed him there in Thebez? why did ye go beside the wall? thou shalt say, And thy officer, Uriah the Hittite, also died.)
22 Therefore the messenger went, [and came] (to the king), and told to David all things which Joab had commanded to him.

2 Samuel 11:12-22 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.