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2 Samuel 11:2-12:25 MWT 2 And it came about at the time of evening that David proceeded to rise from his bed and walk about on the rooftop of the king’s house; and from the rooftop he caught sight of a woman bathing herself, and the woman was very good in appearance. 3 Then David sent and inquired about the woman and someone said: “Is this not Bath-she´ba the daughter of E·li´am the wife of U·ri´ah the Hit´tite?” 4 After that David sent messengers that he might take her. So she came in to him and he lay down with her, while she was sanctifying herself from her uncleanness. Later she returned to her house. 5 And the woman became pregnant. Consequently she sent and told David and said: “I am pregnant.” 6 At this David sent to Jo´ab, saying: “Send to me U·ri´ah the Hit´tite.” So Jo´ab sent U·ri´ah to David. 7 When U·ri´ah came to him, David began to ask how Jo´ab was getting along and how the people were getting along and how the war was getting along. 8 Finally David said to U·ri´ah: “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” Accordingly U·ri´ah went out from the king’s house, and the king’s courtesy gift went out following him. 9 However, U·ri´ah lay down at the entrance of the king’s house with all the other servants of his lord, and he did not go down to his own house. 10 So they told David, saying: “U·ri´ah did not go down to his own house.” Upon that David said to U·ri´ah: “It is from a journey that you have come in, is it not? Why have you not gone down to your own house?” 11 At this U·ri´ah said to David: “The Ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in booths, and my lord Jo´ab and the servants of my lord are camping on the face of the field, and I—shall I go into my own house to eat and drink and to lie down with my wife? As you are living and as your soul is living, I shall not do this thing!” 12 Then David said to U·ri´ah: “Dwell here also today, and tomorrow I shall send you away.” Therefore U·ri´ah kept dwelling in Jerusalem on that day and the day following. 13 Further, David called him that he might eat before him and drink. So he got him drunk. Nevertheless, he went out in the evening to lie down on his bed with the servants of his lord, and to his own house he did not go down. 14 And it came about in the morning that David proceeded to write a letter to Jo´ab and send it by the hand of U·ri´ah. 15 So he wrote in the letter, saying: “PUT U·ri´ah in front of the heaviest battle charges, and YOU men must retreat from behind him, and he must be struck down and die.” 16 And it came about that while Jo´ab was keeping guard over the city he kept U·ri´ah put in the place where he knew that there were valiant men. 17 When the men of the city came on out and went fighting against Jo´ab, then some of the people, the servants of David, fell and U·ri´ah the Hit´tite also died. 18 Jo´ab now sent that he might report to David all the matters of the war. 19 And he went on to command the messenger, saying: “As soon as you finish speaking to the king about all the matters of the war, 20 then it must occur that if the rage of the king comes up and he does say to you, ‘Why did YOU have to go so near to the city to fight? Did YOU men not know that they would shoot from on top of the wall? 21 Who was it that struck down A·bim´e·lech the son of Je·rub´be·sheth? Was it not a woman that pitched an upper millstone upon him from on top of the wall so that he died at The´bez? Why did YOU men have to go so close to the wall?’ you must also say, ‘Your servant U·ri´ah the Hit´tite died too.’” 22 So the messenger went and came and told David all about which Jo´ab had sent him. 23 And the messenger went on to say to David: “The men proved superior to us, so that they came out against us into the field; but we kept pressing them right up to the entrance of the gate. 24 And the shooters kept shooting at your servants from on top of the wall, so that some of the servants of the king died; and your servant U·ri´ah the Hit´tite also died.” 25 At that David said to the messenger: “This is what you will say to Jo´ab, ‘Do not let this matter appear bad in your eyes, for the sword eats up one as well as another. Intensify your battle against the city and throw it down.’ And encourage him.” 26 And the wife of U·ri´ah got to hear that U·ri´ah her husband had died, and she began to wail over her owner. 27 When the mourning period was past, David immediately sent and took her home to his house, and she came to be his wife. In time she bore to him a son, but the thing that David had done appeared bad in the eyes of יהוה God. 12 And יהוה proceeded to send Nathan to David. So he came in to him and said to him: “There were two men that happened to be in one city, the one rich and the other of little means. 2 The rich man happened to have very many sheep and cattle; 3 but the man of little means had nothing but one female lamb, a small one, that he had bought. And he was preserving it alive, and it was growing up with him and with his sons, all together. From his morsel it would eat, and from his cup it would drink, and in his bosom it would lie, and it came to be as a daughter to him. 4 After a while a visitor came to the rich man, but he spared taking some from his own sheep and his own cattle to get such ready for the traveler that had come in to him. So he took the female lamb of the man of little means and got it ready for the man that had come in to him.” 5 At this David’s anger grew very hot against the man, so that he said to Nathan: “As יהוה is living, the man doing this deserves to die! 6 And for the female lamb he should make compensation with four, as a consequence of the fact that he has done this thing and because he did not have compassion.” 7 Then Nathan said to David: “You yourself are the man! This is what יהוה the God of Israel has said, ‘I myself anointed you as king over Israel, and I myself delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I was willing to give you the house of your lord and the wives of your lord into your bosom, and to give you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if it were not enough, I was willing to add to you things like these as well as other things. 9 Why did you despise the word of יהוה by doing what is bad in his eyes? U·ri´ah the Hit´tite you struck down with the sword, and his wife you took as your wife, and him you killed by the sword of the sons of Am´mon. 10 And now a sword will not depart from your own house to time indefinite, as a consequence of the fact that you despised me so that you took the wife of U·ri´ah the Hit´tite to become your wife.’ 11 This is what יהוה has said, ‘Here I am raising up against you calamity out of your own house; and I will take your wives under your own eyes and give them to your fellowman, and he will certainly lie down with your wives under the eyes of this sun. 12 Whereas you yourself acted in secret, I, for my part, shall do this thing in front of all Israel and in front of the sun.’” 13 David now said to Nathan: “I have sinned against יהוה .” At this Nathan said to David: “ יהוה , in turn, does let your sin pass by. You will not die. 14 Notwithstanding this, because you have unquestionably treated יהוה with disrespect by this thing, also the son himself, just born to you, will positively die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his own house. And יהוה proceeded to deal a blow to the child that the wife of U·ri´ah had borne to David so that it took sick. 16 And David began to seek the [true] God in behalf of the boy, and David went on a strict fast and came in and spent the night and lay down on the earth. 17 So the older men of his house stood up over him to raise him up from the earth, but he did not consent and did not take bread in company with them. 18 And it came about on the seventh day that the child gradually died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child had died; for they said: “Look! While the child continued alive we did speak to him, and he did not listen to our voice; so how can we say to him, ‘The child has died’? Then he will certainly do something bad.” 19 When David got to see that his servants were whispering together, David began to discern that the child had died. So David said to his servants: “Has the child died?” To this they said: “He has died.” 20 Then David got up from the earth and washed and rubbed himself with oil and changed his mantles and came to the house of יהוה and prostrated himself; after which he came into his own house and asked, and they promptly set bread before him and he began to eat. 21 Consequently his servants said to him: “What does this thing mean that you have done? For the sake of the child while alive you fasted and kept weeping; and just as soon as the child had died you got up and began to eat bread.” 22 To this he said: “While the child was yet alive I did fast and I kept weeping, because I said to myself, ‘Who is there knowing whether יהוה may show me favor, and the child will certainly live?’ 23 Now that he has died, why is it I am fasting? Am I able to bring him back again? I am going to him, but, as for him, he will not return to me.” 24 And David began to comfort Bath-she´ba his wife. Further, he came in to her and lay down with her. In time she bore a son, and his name came to be called Sol´o·mon. And יהוה himself did love him. 25 So he sent by means of Nathan the prophet and called his name Jed·i·di´ah, for the sake of יהוה .
2 Samuel 11:2-27 GNB One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked around up there, he saw a woman taking a bath in her house. She was very beautiful. (3) So he sent a messenger to find out who she was, and learned that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. (4) David sent messengers to get 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. (5) Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him. (6) David then sent a message to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent him to David. (7) When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going. (8) Then he said to Uriah, "Go on home and rest a while." Uriah left, and David had a present sent to his home. (9) But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards. (10) When 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?" (11) Uriah answered, "The men of Israel and Judah are away in battle, 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!" (12) So 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. (13) David invited him to supper and got him drunk. But again that night Uriah did not go home; instead he slept on his blanket in the palace guardroom. (14) The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. (15) He wrote: "Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed." (16) So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong. (17) The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces; some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah. (18) Then Joab sent a report to David telling him about the battle, (19) and he instructed the messenger, "After you have told the king all about the battle, (20) he may get angry and ask you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight them? Didn't you realize that they would shoot arrows from the walls? (21) Don't you remember how Abimelech son of Gideon was killed? It was at Thebez, where a woman threw a millstone down from the wall and killed him. Why, then, did you go so near the wall?' If the king asks you this, tell him, 'Your officer Uriah was also killed.' " (22) So the messenger went to David and told him what Joab had commanded him to say. (23) He said, "Our enemies were stronger than we were and came out of the city to fight us in the open, but we drove them back to the city gate. (24) Then they shot arrows at us from the wall, and some of Your Majesty's officers were killed; your officer Uriah was also killed." (25) David said to the messenger, "Encourage Joab and tell him not to be upset, since you never can tell who will die in battle. Tell him to launch a stronger attack on the city and capture it." (26) When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. (27) When the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to the palace; she became his wife and bore him a son. But the LORD ( יהוה ) was not pleased with what David had done.
2 Samuel 12:1-25 GNB The LORD ( יהוה ) sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. (2) The rich man had many cattle and sheep, (3) while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. (4) One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest." (5) David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD ( יהוה ) that the man who did this ought to die! (6) For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took." (7) "You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD ( יהוה ) God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul. (8) I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah. If this had not been enough, I would have given you twice as much. (9) Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! (10) Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife. (11) I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. (12) You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.' " (13) "I have sinned against the LORD ( יהוה ) ," David said. Nathan replied, "The LORD ( יהוה ) forgives you; you will not die. (14) But because you have shown such contempt for the LORD ( יהוה ) in doing this, your child will die." (15) Then Nathan went home. The LORD ( יהוה ) caused the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David to become very sick. (16) David prayed to God that the child would get well. He refused to eat anything, and every night he went into his room and spent the night lying on the floor. (17) His court officials went to him and tried to make him get up, but he refused and would not eat anything with them. (18) A week later the child died, and David's officials were afraid to tell him the news. They said, "While the child was living, David wouldn't answer us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that his child is dead? He might do himself some harm!" (19) When David noticed them whispering to each other, he realized that the child had died. So he asked them, "Is the child dead?" "Yes, he is," they answered. (20) David got up from the floor, took a bath, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went and worshiped in the house of the LORD ( יהוה ) . When he returned to the palace, he asked for food and ate it as soon as it was served. (21) "We don't understand this," his officials said to him. "While the child was alive, you wept for him and would not eat; but as soon as he died, you got up and ate!" (22) "Yes," David answered, "I did fast and weep while he was still alive. I thought that the LORD ( יהוה ) might be merciful to me and not let the child die. (23) But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Could I bring the child back to life? I will some day go to where he is, but he can never come back to me." (24) Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had intercourse with her, and she bore a son, whom David named Solomon. The LORD ( יהוה ) loved the boy (25) and commanded the prophet Nathan to name the boy Jedidiah, because the LORD ( יהוה ) loved him.
2 Samuel 11:2-27 ESV It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. (3) And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" (4) So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. (5) And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant." (6) So David sent word to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. (7) When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. (8) Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. (9) But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. (10) When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" (11) Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." (12) Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. (13) And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. (14) In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. (15) In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die." (16) And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. (17) And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. (18) Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. (19) And he instructed the messenger, "When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, (20) then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? (21) Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'" (22) So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. (23) The messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. (24) Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also." (25) David said to the messenger, "Thus shall you say to Joab, 'Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.' And encourage him." (26) When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. (27) And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD ( יהוה ) .
2 Samuel 12:1-25 ESV And the LORD ( יהוה ) sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. (2) The rich man had very many flocks and herds, (3) but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. (4) Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." (5) Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD ( יהוה ) lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, (6) and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." (7) Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD ( יהוה ) , the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. (8) And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. (9) Why have you despised the word of the LORD ( יהוה ) , to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. (10) Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' (11) Thus says the LORD ( יהוה ) , 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. (12) For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'" (13) David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD ( יהוה ) ." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD ( יהוה ) also has put away your sin; you shall not die. (14) Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD ( יהוה ) , the child who is born to you shall die." (15) Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD ( יהוה ) afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. (16) David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. (17) And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. (18) On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, "Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm." (19) But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." (20) Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD ( יהוה ) and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. (21) Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." (22) He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD ( יהוה ) will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' (23) But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." (24) Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD ( יהוה ) loved him (25) and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD ( יהוה ) .
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You will note the reference windows often include more than one translation of the Bible. The reason is to strive to gain the best possible understanding of the original Hebrew and Greek. Since we don't speak those languages, we rely on those who have come before and made the effort to translate those texts into English for us. Considering several translations gives the benefit of the understanding of several translation committees or individuals.
The Translations we quote are:
ALT - Analytical Literal Translation
ASV - American Standard Version (by the American revision committee in 1897).
BBE - 1965 Bible in Basic English
Bishops - 1568 Bishop's Bible
Calvin - 1856 by Calvin Translation Society
CEV - Contemporary English Version
Coverdale - 1535 Miles Coverdale Bible
Darby - 1889 Darby Bible
DRB - 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible
ESV - English Standard Version
GNB - Good News Bible
GW - God's Word Bible
ISV - International Standard Version
KJV - 1769 King James Version
KJV-1611 - Old King James Version from 1611
LitNT - Literal New Testament
LITV - Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
MKJV - 1962 Modern King James Version
Murdock - 1851 James Murdock New Testament
MWT - Modern World Translation
NWT - New World Translation
RV - Revised Version
Webster - 1833 Webster Bible
WTNT - 1525-26 William Tyndale New Testament
Wycliffe - 1394 Wycliffe Bible
YLT - 1862/1898 Young's Literal Translation
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