₁The 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.

₂One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked about up there, he saw a woman having a bath. She was very beautiful. ₃So he sent a messenger to find out who she was, and learnt that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. ₄David sent messengers to fetch 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. ₅Afterwards she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.

₆David then sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. ₇When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going. ₈Then he said to Uriah, “Go home and rest a while.” Uriah left, and David sent a present to his home. ₉But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards. ₁₀When 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?”

₁₁Uriah answered, “The men of Israel and Judah are away at the war, 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!”

₁₂So David said, “Then stay here the rest of the day, and tomorrow I'll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ₁₃David invited him to supper and made him drunk. But again that night Uriah did not go home; instead he slept on his blanket in the palace guardroom.

₁₄The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ₁₅He wrote: “Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed.”