11:1And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
11:2And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
11:3And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
11:4And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
11:5And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
11:6And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
11:7And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
11:8And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
11:9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
11:10And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11:11And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
11:12And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
11:13And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
11:14And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
11:15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
11:16And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
11:17And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
11:18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
11:19And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
11:20And if so be that the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
11:21Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
11:22So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
11:23And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
11:24And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king’s servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
11:25Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
11:26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
11:27And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
12:1And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
12:2The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
12:3But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
12:4And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
12:5And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
12:6And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
12:7And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
12:8And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
12:9Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
12:10Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
12:11Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12:12For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
12:13And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
12:14Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
Seven sons pass before Samuel while the next king is still looking after the sheep. Jesse has brought the family, or what he considers enough of it. The prophet has brought a horn of oil and, judging by his first look at Eliab, some of his old expectations. Height catches his attention again. The LORD stops the selection before another impressive exterior can settle it.
David's own good looks are then described quite freely. The contrast is not between handsome men and worthy ones, as though an attractive face were a spiritual handicap. It is between what people can see and what God sees. David is not chosen because Samuel finally learns to judge appearances more accurately. Samuel has to be told.
The waiting matters. Nobody sits down until the youngest arrives; the household must make room for the son absent from its presentation. Yet the oil does not immediately give David a court, a crown, or command of Saul's army. The change named here is the coming of the Spirit of the LORD from that day forward. Psalm 78:70-72 later preserves the movement beautifully: from tending sheep to feeding Israel, with the heart and the hands both involved.