David and Bathsheba

¹The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, David sent out Joab with his officers and the Israelite army; they defeated the Ammonites and besieged the city of Rabbah. But David himself stayed in Jerusalem.

²One 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.

³So 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.

⁴David 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.

⁵Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.

⁶David then sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

⁷When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going.

⁸Then he said to Uriah, “Go on home and rest a while.” Uriah left, and David had a present sent to his home.

⁹But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards.

¹⁰When 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?”

¹¹Uriah 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!”

¹²So 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.

¹³David 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.

¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah.

¹⁵He wrote: “Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed.”

¹⁶So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong.

¹⁷The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces; some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah.

¹⁸Then Joab sent a report to David telling him about the battle,

¹⁹and he instructed the messenger, “After you have told the king all about the battle,

²⁰he 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?

²¹Don'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.’”

²²So the messenger went to David and told him what Joab had commanded him to say.

²³He 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.

²⁴Then they shot arrows at us from the wall, and some of Your Majesty's officers were killed; your officer Uriah was also killed.”

²⁵David 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.”

²⁶When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him.

²⁷When 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 was not pleased with what David had done.

David's Activities in Jerusalem

¹King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace.

²And so David realized that the Lord had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.

³There in Jerusalem, David married more wives and had more sons and daughters.

⁴The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet,

⁶Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

⁷Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.

Victory over the Philistines

⁸When the Philistines heard that David had now been made king over the whole country of Israel, their army went out to capture him. So David marched out to meet them.

⁹The Philistines arrived at Rephaim Valley and began plundering.

¹⁰David asked God, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?” The Lord answered, “Yes, attack! I will give you the victory!”

¹¹So David attacked them at Baal Perazim and defeated them. He said, “God has used me to break through the enemy army like a flood.” So that place is called Baal Perazim.

¹²When the Philistines fled, they left their idols behind, and David gave orders for them to be burned.

¹³Soon the Philistines returned to the valley and started plundering it again.

¹⁴Once more David consulted God, who answered, “Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees.

¹⁵When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack, because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.”

¹⁶David did what God had commanded, and so he drove the Philistines back from Gibeon all the way to Gezer.

¹⁷David's fame spread everywhere, and the Lord made every nation afraid of him.

Getting Ready to Move the Covenant Box

¹For his own use, David built houses in David's City. He also prepared a place for God's Covenant Box and put up a tent for it.

²Then he said, “Only Levites should carry the Covenant Box, because they are the ones the Lord chose to carry it and to serve him forever.”

³So David summoned all the people of Israel to Jerusalem in order to bring the Covenant Box to the place he had prepared for it.

⁴Next he sent for the descendants of Aaron and for the Levites.

⁵From the Levite clan of Kohath came Uriel, in charge of 120 members of his clan;

⁶from the clan of Merari came Asaiah, in charge of 220;

⁷from the clan of Gershon, Joel, in charge of 130;

⁸from the clan of Elizaphan, Shemaiah, in charge of 200;

⁹from the clan of Hebron, Eliel, in charge of 80;

¹⁰and from the clan of Uzziel, Amminadab, in charge of 112.

¹¹David called in the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the six Levites, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

¹²He said to the Levites, “You are the leaders of the Levite clans. Purify yourselves and your fellow Levites, so that you can bring the Covenant Box of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.

¹³Because you were not there to carry it the first time, the Lord our God punished us for not worshiping him as we should have done.”

¹⁴Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to move the Covenant Box of the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁵The Levites carried it on poles on their shoulders, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

¹⁶David commanded the leaders of the Levites to assign various Levites to sing and to play joyful music on harps and cymbals.

^17-21From the clans of singers they chose the following men to play the brass cymbals: Heman son of Joel, his relative Asaph son of Berechiah, and Ethan son of Kushaiah, of the clan of Merari. To assist them they chose the following Levites to play the high-pitched harps: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah. To play the low-pitched harps they chose the following Levites: Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Azaziah, and the Temple guards, Obed Edom and Jeiel.

²²Because of his skill in music Chenaniah was chosen to be in charge of the levitical musicians.

^23-24Berechiah and Elkanah, along with Obed Edom and Jehiah, were chosen as guards for the Covenant Box. The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were chosen to blow trumpets in front of the Covenant Box.

Moving the Covenant Box to Jerusalem

²⁵So King David, the leaders of Israel, and the military commanders went to the house of Obed Edom to get the Covenant Box, and they had a great celebration.

²⁶They sacrificed seven bulls and seven sheep, to make sure that God would help the Levites who were carrying the Covenant Box.

²⁷David was wearing a robe made of the finest linen, and so were the musicians, Chenaniah their leader, and the Levites who carried the Box. David also wore a linen ephod.

²⁸So all the Israelites accompanied the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy, the sound of trumpets, horns, and cymbals, and the music of harps.

²⁹As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and leaping for joy, and she was disgusted with him.

Confession and Forgiveness

¹Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned.

²Happy is the one whom the Lord does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.

³When I did not confess my sins, I was worn out from crying all day long.

⁴Day and night you punished me, Lord; my strength was completely drained, as moisture is dried up by the summer heat.

⁵Then I confessed my sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins.

⁶So all your loyal people should pray to you in times of need; when a great flood of trouble comes rushing in, it will not reach them.

⁷You are my hiding place; you will save me from trouble. I sing aloud of your salvation, because you protect me.

⁸The Lord says, “I will teach you the way you should go; I will instruct you and advise you.

⁹Don't be stupid like a horse or a mule, which must be controlled with a bit and bridle to make it submit.”

¹⁰The wicked will have to suffer, but those who trust in the Lord are protected by his constant love.

¹¹You that are righteous, be glad and rejoice because of what the Lord has done. You that obey him, shout for joy!