2 Samuel 11:6-25

6So David sent a message to Joab. He said, ‘Send Uriah the Hittite to me.’ So Joab sent Uriah to David.

7When Uriah arrived, David asked him about Joab and the Israelite army. He asked Uriah about the war.

8Then David said to Uriah, ‘Now go to your house and rest for a time.’ So Uriah left the palace. Then King David sent a gift to him at home.

9But Uriah slept at the door of the palace, together with his master's servants. He did not go to his house.

10David's servants told him, ‘Uriah did not go to his house last night.’ So David said to Uriah, ‘You have just arrived after a long journey. Why did you not go to your house?’

11Uriah said to David, ‘The armies of Israel and Judah are all living in tents, as well as the Covenant Box. My master Joab and the soldiers of your army are sleeping in the fields. So I cannot go to my house and eat a meal there. It would not be right for me to go home and sleep with my wife. As surely as you live, I promise that I would never do that!’

12David said to Uriah, ‘Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I will send you back to the war.’ So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.

13David asked him to come and eat a meal with him. David caused Uriah to drink a lot of wine so that he became drunk. But in the evening Uriah still did not go to his own house. He slept on his mat, where his master's servants all slept.

14In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab. Uriah took the letter to Joab.

15In the letter, David told Joab, ‘Put Uriah at the front of all our soldiers, where the battle is most dangerous. Then tell the other soldiers to move back away from him. Then he will be alone and the enemy's soldiers will kill him.’

16Joab's soldiers were all around Rabbah city and they were watching it carefully. Joab sent Uriah to fight near to the city, where the enemy's best soldiers were.

17When some of the Ammonite soldiers came out of the city to fight Joab's army, they killed some of David's men. Uriah the Hittite was one of the men who died there.

18Joab wrote a report to tell David about the battle.

19He told the man who was taking the message, ‘When you finish giving my report to the king,

20the king may be angry. He may ask you, “Why did you go and fight so near to the city? Surely you knew that they would shoot arrows from the walls.

21Remember how a woman killed Jerub-Besheth's son, Abimelech. She threw a heavy stone down on him from the city wall in Thebez. You should not have gone so near to Rabbah's city wall.” If King David does say that, tell him, “Your servant, Uriah the Hittite is dead too.” ’

22The man that Joab sent to David with his message arrived. He told David all the news that Joab had sent with him.

23The man said to David, ‘The enemy's men were stronger than us and they attacked us in the fields. But we chased them back as far as the gate of their city.

24Then enemy soldiers shot arrows from the city wall and some of your men died. Your servant, Uriah the Hittite, is also dead.’

25David said to the man that Joab had sent, ‘Tell Joab, “Do not be too upset. The enemy will always kill some of our men, and it could be anyone. Continue to attack the city even more strongly and then you will take it for us.” If you say that to Joab, he will not be so sad.’