2 Samuel 11:4

11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. ¹  She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. ²  (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) ³  Then she returned to her home.

2 Samuel 11:15-17

11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

11:16 So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers ⁴  were. 11:17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers ⁵  fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

2 Samuel 12:9-10

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ⁶  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ⁷  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

[11:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and David sent messengers and he took her.”

[11:4]  ² tn Heb “he lay with her” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “he made love to her”; NIV, CEV, NLT “he slept with her.”

[11:4]  ³ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause further heightens the tension by letting the reader know that Bathsheba, having just completed her menstrual cycle, is ripe for conception. See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 286. Since she just had her period, it will also be obvious to those close to the scene that Uriah, who has been away fighting, cannot be the father of the child.

[11:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “the valiant men.” This refers in context to the strongest or most valiant defenders of the city Joab and the Israelite army were besieging, so the present translation uses “the best enemy soldiers” for clarity.

[11:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “some of the people from the servants of David.”

[12:9]  ⁶ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.