rd

2 Samuel 11

The citie Rabbah is besieged. 2 Dauid committeth adulterie. 17 Vriah is slaine. 27 Dauid marieth Bath-shéba.
1.And when the yere was a expired in ye time when Kings go forthe to battel, Dauid sent * Ioáb, and his seruants with him, & all Israél, who destroyed the children of Ammón, and besieged Rabbáh: but Dauid remained in Ierusalém.
2.And when it was euening tide, Dauid arose out of his b bed, and walked vpon the roofe of the Kings palace: and frõ the roofe he sawe a woman washing her selfe: and the womã was very beautiful to loke vpon.
3.And Dauid sent and inquired what woman it was: and one said, Is not this Bath-shéba ye daughter of Eliám, wife to Vriáh the c Hittite?
4.Then Dauid sent messengers, and toke her away: and she came vnto him and he lay with her: (now she was * purified from her vnclennes) and she returned vnto her house.
5.And ye womã cõceiued: therefore she sent & d tolde Dauid & said, I am with childe.
6.Then Dauid sent to Ioáb, saying, Send me Vriáh the Hittite. And Ioáb sent Vriáh to Dauid.
7.And when Vriáh came vnto him, Dauid demanded him how Ioáb did, & how the people fared, and how the warre prospered.
8.Afterwarde Dauid said to Vriáh, e Go downe to thine house, and wash thy feete. So Vriáh departed out of the Kings palace, & the King sent a present after him.
9.But Vriáh slept at the dore of the Kings palace with all the seruants of his lord, and went not downe to his house.
10.Then they tolde Dauid, saying, Vriáh went not downe to his house: and Dauid said vnto Vriáh, Comest thou not from thy iourney? why didest thou not go downe to thine house?
11.Thẽ Vriáh answered Dauid, f The Arke of Israél, and Iudáh dwel in tents: and my lord Ioáb and the seruants of my lord abide in the opẽ fields. shal I thẽ go into mine house to eat and drinke, and lie with my wife? by thy life, & by the life of thy soule, I wil not do this thing.
12.Then Dauid said vnto Vriah, Tarie yet this daye, and tomorowe I wil send thee awaie. So Vriáh abode in Ierusalém that day, and the morowe.
13.Then Dauid called him, & he did eat and drinke before him, & he made him g drõke: & at euen hẽ went out to lie on his couche with the seruants of his lord, but went not downe to his house.
14.And on the morowe Dauid wrote a letter to Ioáb, and sent it by the hand of Vriáh.
15.And he wrote thus in the letter, h Put ye Vriáh in the forefrõte of the strength of the battel, & recule ye backe from him, that he may be smitten, and dye.
16.So whẽ Ioáb besieged ye citie, he assigned Vriáh vnto a place, where he knewe that strong men were.
17.And the men of the citie came out, and foght with Ioáb: & there fell of the people of the seruants of Dauid, & Vriáh the Hittite also dyed.
18.Then Ioáb sent and tolde Dauid all the things concerning the warre,
19.And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the warre vnto the King,
20.And if the Kings angre arise, so that he say vnto thee, Wherefore approched ye vnto ye citie to fight? knewe ye not that they wolde hurle from the wall?
21.Who smote Abimélech sonne of Ierubbésheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a milstone vpon him from the wall, and he dyed in Thebéz? why went you nye the wall? Thẽ say thou, Thy seruant Vriáh the Hittite is also dead.
22.So the messenger went, and came and shewed Dauid all that Ioáb had sent him for.
23.And the messenger said vnto Dauid, Certeinly the men preuailed against vs, and came out vnto vs into the field, but we pursued them vnto the entring of the gate.
24.But ye shooters shot frõ the wall against thy seruants, and some of the Kings seruants be dead: and thy seruant Vriáh the Hittite is also dead.
25.Then Dauid said vnto the messenger, l Thus shalt thou say vnto Ioáb, Let not this thing trouble thee: for the sworde deuoureth one as wel as another: make thy battel more strong against the citie, and destroye it: and encourage thou him. M.iiii. uoureth one aswel as another: make thy battel more strong against the citie & destroy it, & encourage thou him.
26.¶ And when the wife of Vriáh heard that her husband Vriáh was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27.So when the mourning was past, Dauid sent & toke her into his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a sonne: but the thing that Dauid had done, displeased the Lord.

Notes

1:a.
The yere following about the spring time.
1:*.
1 Chro. 20.1.
2:b.
Whereupon he vsed to rest at after none, as was red of Ish-bósheth, Chap 4.7.
3:c.
Who was not an Israelite borne, but conuerted to the true religion.
4:*.
Leui 15.19. & 18.19.
5:d.
Fearing lest she shulde be punished according to the Law.
8:e.
Dauid thoght that if Vriah lay with his wife, his faute might be cloked.
11:f.
Hereby God wolde touche Dauids conscience that seeing the state of his seruãt, he wolde declare him selfe so forgetful of God and a uarious to his seruant.
13:g.
He made hĩ drũke more liberally thẽ he was wonte to do, thĩking hereby he wolde haue lyen by his wife.
15:h.
Else seing how God cõtinually vphelde him with his mightie Spirit, & moste perfite, he fall headlong into all vice & abomination.
20:*.
Or, Thus shalt thõ say.
21:i.
Meaning Gedeõ, Iudg 9.53.
23:k.
We were in dãger of thẽ.
25:l.
He dissembleth with the messenger to cloke his fault, that neither his cõsel, nor Ioabs wickednesse might be espied.
25:*.
*Ebr. so and so.
27:*.
*Ebr. was euil in the eyes of the Lord.