David and Bathsheba
(1 Chronicles 20.1a)1 It was now spring, the time when kings go to war. David sent out the whole Israelite army under the command of Joab and his officers. They destroyed the Ammonite army and surrounded the capital city of Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
2-4 Late one afternoon, David got up from a nap and was walking around on the flat roof of his palace. A beautiful young woman was down below in her courtyard, bathing as her religion required. David happened to see her, and he sent one of his servants to find out who she was.
The servant came back and told David, “Her name is Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam, and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
David sent some messengers to bring her to his palace. She came to him, and he slept with her. Then she returned home. 5 But later, when she found out that she was going to have a baby, she sent someone to David with this message: “I'm pregnant!”
6 David sent a message to Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.”
Joab sent Uriah 7 to David's palace, and David asked him, “Is Joab well? How is the army doing? And how about the war?” 8 Then David told Uriah, “Go home and clean up.” Uriah left the king's palace, and David had dinner sent to Uriah's house. 9 But Uriah didn't go home. Instead, he slept outside the entrance to the royal palace, where the king's guards slept.
10 Someone told David that Uriah had not gone home. So the next morning David asked him, “Why didn't you go home? Haven't you been away for a long time?”
11 Uriah answered, “The sacred chest and the armies of Israel and Judah are camping out somewhere in the fields with our commander Joab and his officers and troops. Do you really think I would go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? I swear by your life that I would not!”
12 Then David said, “Stay here in Jerusalem today, and I will send you back tomorrow.”
Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. Then the next day, 13 David invited him for dinner. Uriah ate with David, who gave him so much to drink that he got drunk. But Uriah still did not go home. He went out and slept on his mat near the palace guards. 14 Early the next morning, David wrote a letter and told Uriah to deliver it to Joab. 15 The letter said: “Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is the worst. Then pull the troops back from him, so that he will be wounded and die.”
16 Joab had been carefully watching the city of Rabbah, and he put Uriah in a place where he knew there were some of the enemy's best soldiers. 17 When the men of the city came out, they fought and killed some of David's soldiers—Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Joab sent a messenger to tell David everything that was happening in the war. 19 He gave the messenger these orders:
When you finish telling the king everything that has happened, 20 he may get angry and ask, “Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Don't you know how Abimelech the son of Gideon was killed at Thebez? Didn't a woman kill him by dropping a large rock from the top of the city wall? Why did you go so close to the city walls?”
Then tell him, “One of your soldiers who was killed was Uriah the Hittite.”
22 The messenger went to David and reported everything Joab had told him. 23 He added, “The enemy chased us from the wall and out into the open fields. But we pushed them back as far as the city gate. 24 Then they shot arrows at us from the top of the wall. Some of your soldiers were killed, and one of them was Uriah the Hittite.”
25 David replied, “Tell Joab to cheer up and not to be upset about what happened. You never know who will be killed in a war. Tell him to strengthen his attack against the city and break through its walls.”
26 When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 Then after the time for mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to the palace. She became David's wife, and they had a son.
The Lord's Message for David
The Lord was angry because of what David had done,
David naBatseba
1 Oshitemamvula sha landula, ethimbo ndyoka lyomumvo omukwaniilwa ha ka hinga olwindji iita, David okwa tumu Joab naambala ye netangakwiita lyAaisraeli. Oya dhenge Aayammoni e taa kondeke oshilando shawo Rabba. Ihe David ye mwene okwa kala muJerusalem.
2 Esiku limwe komatango David okwa zi momutala gwe e ta ka lyanga kontala yongulu. Manga ta lyanga nkoka, okwa mono omukulukadhi ti iyogo. Okwa li o opala. 3 David okwa tumu omutumwa, a uve kutya oye olye, nokwa koneke kutya nani oye Batseba yaEliam, omukiintu gwaUria Omuheti. 4 David okwa tumu aatumwa, ye ke mu tale. Oye mu eta kuye, oye nokwa lala naye. (Okwa adhika opo a mana eiyopaleko lye lyokomwedhi.) Nena okwa shuna kaandjawo. 5 Konima yaambika okwi idhimbulula kutya nani omusimba e ta tumu elaka kuDavid oku mu tseyithila.
6 Nena David okwa tumu elaka kuJoab tali ti: “Tumina ndje Uria Omuheti.” Osho ngaaka Joab okwe mu tumu kuDavid. 7 Uria sho a thiki, David okwe mu pula, ngele Joab naakwiita oye li nawa, nolugodhi kutya olwa tya ngiini. 8 Nena okwa ti kuUria: “Inda kaandjeni, u ka vululukwe manga.” Urija okwa zi po, naDavid okwa tumu omulongelo kaandjawo. 9 Ihe Uria ina ya kegumbo, ndele okwa lala kehale lyuuwa pamwe naalangeli yomukwaniilwa. 10 David sho u uvu kutya Uria ina ya kaandjawo, okwe mu pula a ti: “Ndishi owa kala ethimbo ele kuu po pegumbo; omolwashike nduno inoo ya kegumbo?”
11 Uria okwa yamukula a ti: “Aalumentu Aaisraeli nAajuda oye li kiita, noshikethahangano oshi li pamwe nayo; mwene gwandje Joab naantu ye oye li montanda melundu. Ote vulu ngiini okuya kaandjetu, ndi ka lye e tandi nu nokulala pamwe nomukiintu gwandje? Oshili ngaashi u na omwenyo, otandi gana kutya itandi ka ninga nando iinima ya tya ngeyi!”
12 David okwa ti: “Kala ano muka esiku limwe, ngula otandi ke ku laleka, u shune.” Osho Uria a kalele muJerusalem esiku ndyoka nesiku lyanofu wo. 13 David okwe mu ithana koshililo nokwe mu kolitha. Ihe uusiku mboka wo Uria ina ya kegumbo; okwi igonyene ashike mekumbyatha lye komitala dhaalangeli yombala.
14 Ongula sho kwa shi, David okwa nyolele Joab ombilive nokwe yi tumu naUria. 15 Okwa nyola ngeyi: “Tula Uria pokuma pu na olugodhi olupyu, ne mu ze po ondapo, opo a dhipagwe.” 16 Nena mokukondeka oshilando Joab okwa tula Uria pehala mpoka a tseya kutya opu na aatondi aanankondo. 17 Omatanga gaatondi oga tsinuka ko ga zi koshilando taga kondjitha Joab naantu ye; omalenga gamwe gaDavid ga dhipagwa nosho wo Uria.
18 Nena Joab okwa tumu etseyitho kuDavid e te mu hokololele olugodhi. 19 Joab okwa longo omutumwa ta ti: “Shampa wa mana okuhokololela omukwaniilwa olugodhi, 20 otashi vulika a geye e te ku pula ta ti: ‘Omolwashike mwa yile pooha dhoshilando noku ya kondjitha? Inamu shi dhimbulula nani kutya aanamatati otaye mu yaha ya londa kedhingililokuma lyoshilando? 21 Itamu dhimbulukwa, nkene Abimelek yaGideon a dhipagwa puTebes, mpoka omukulukadhi e mu umbile oshikweyithilomanya okuza kekuma e tali mu dhipaga. Omolwashike nduno mwa yi popepi nekuma?’ Omukwaniilwa ngele ote ku pula shika, mu lombwela u tye: ‘Omumati gwoye Uria okwa sa wo.’ ”
22 Omutumwa okwa yi nduno kuDavid nokwe mu hokololele shoka Joab e mu lombwele, a tye. 23 Okwa ti: “Aatondi yetu oya li aanankondo ye tu vule. Oye tu gwililile po ya piti mo moshilando, ye tu kondjithe melundu, ihe tse otwe ya shunitha mo sigo posheelo. 24 Nena oye ta umbu iikuti okuza kekuma, nayamwe yomomalenga goye, Nkeyama, oya dhipagwa; omumati gwoye Uria okwa dhipagwa wo.”
25 David okwa ti komutumwa: “Tsa Joab omukumo, ngoye u mu lombwele u tye: ‘Ino piyagana, oshoka egonga otali dhipaga nena ngu, ngula ngwiyaka. Ponokeleni ashike oshilando, mu shi kwate po.’ ”
26 Batseba sho a kundana omulume a dhipagwa, okwe mu lili. 27 Oosa sho dha halakana, David okwe mu tumu a ka talwe ko, e ye kombala. Okwa ningi omukiintu gwe e te mu valele okanona okamati. Ihe Omuwa ka li a panda shoka David a ningi.
