2 Samuel 11 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Factum est autem, vertente anno, eo tempore quo solent reges ad bella procedere, misit David Joab, et servos suos cum eo, et universum Israël, et vastaverunt filios Ammon, et obsederunt Rabba: David autem remansit in Jerusalem.
1 At the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
2 Dum hæc agerentur, accidit ut surgeret David de strato suo post meridiem, et deambularet in solario domus regiæ: viditque mulierem se lavantem ex adverso super solarium suum: erat autem mulier pulchra valde.
2 At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.
3 Misit ergo rex, et requisivit quæ esset mulier. Nuntiatumque est ei quod ipsa esset Bethsabee filia Eliam, uxor Uriæ Hethæi.
3 David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, Uriah the Hittite’s wife?”
4 Missis itaque David nuntiis, tulit eam: quæ cum ingressa esset ad illum, dormivit cum ea: statimque sanctificata est ab immunditia sua,
4 David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.
5 et reversa est domum suam concepto fœtu. Mittensque nuntiavit David, et ait: Concepi.
5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
6 Misit autem David ad Joab, dicens: Mitte ad me Uriam Hethæum. Misitque Joab Uriam ad David.
6 David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 Et venit Urias ad David. Quæsivitque David quam recte ageret Joab et populus, et quomodo administraretur bellum.
7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8 Et dixit David ad Uriam: Vade in domum tuam, et lava pedes tuos. Et egressus est Urias de domo regis, secutusque est eum cibus regius.
8 David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 Dormivit autem Urias ante portam domus regiæ cum aliis servis domini sui, et non descendit ad domum suam.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and didn’t go down to his house.
10 Nuntiatumque est David a dicentibus: Non ivit Urias in domum suam. Et ait David ad Uriam: Numquid non de via venisti? quare non descendisti in domum tuam?
10 When they had told David, saying, “Uriah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”
11 Et ait Urias ad David: Arca Dei et Israël et Juda habitant in papilionibus, et dominus meus Joab et servi domini mei super faciem terræ manent: et ego ingrediar domum meam, ut comedam et bibam, et dormiam cum uxore mea? Per salutem tuam, et per salutem animæ tuæ, non faciam rem hanc.
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into 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 Ait ergo David ad Uriam: Mane hic etiam hodie, et cras dimittam te. Mansit Urias in Jerusalem in die illa et altera:
12 David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.
13 et vocavit eum David ut comederet coram se et biberet, et inebriavit eum: qui egressus vespere, dormivit in strato suo cum servis domini sui, et in domum suam non descendit.
13 When David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn’t go down to his house.
14 Factum est ergo mane, et scripsit David epistolam ad Joab: misitque per manum Uriæ,
14 In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 scribens in epistola: Ponite Uriam ex adverso belli, ubi fortissimum est prælium: et derelinquite eum, ut percussus intereat.
15 He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck and die.”
16 Igitur cum Joab obsideret urbem, posuit Uriam in loco ubi sciebat viros esse fortissimos.
16 When Joab kept watch on the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were.
17 Egressique viri de civitate, bellabant adversum Joab, et ceciderunt de populo servorum David, et mortuus est etiam Urias Hethæus.
17 The men of the city went out and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of David’s servants; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Misit itaque Joab, et nuntiavit David omnia verba prælii:
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19 præcepitque nuntio, dicens: Cum compleveris universos sermones belli ad regem,
19 and he commanded the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king,
20 si eum videris indignari, et dixerit: Quare accessistis ad murum, ut præliaremini? an ignorabatis quod multa desuper ex muro tela mittantur?
20 it shall be that, if the king’s wrath arise, and he asks you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall?
21 Quis percussit Abimelech filium Jerobaal? nonne mulier misit super eum fragmen molæ de muro, et interfecit eum in Thebes? quare juxta murum accessistis? dices: Etiam servus tuus Urias Hethæus occubuit.
21 Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t 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 also dead.’”
22 Abiit ergo nuntius, et venit, et narravit David omnia quæ ei præceperat Joab.
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 Et dixit nuntius ad David: Prævaluerunt adversum nos viri, et egressi sunt ad nos in agrum: nos autem facto impetu persecuti eos sumus usque ad portam civitatis.
23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field; and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate.
24 Et direxerunt jacula sagittarii ad servos tuos ex muro desuper, mortuique sunt de servis regis: quin etiam servus tuus Urias Hethæus mortuus est.
24 The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”
25 Et dixit David ad nuntium: Hæc dices Joab: Non te frangat ista res: varius enim eventus est belli, nunc hunc, et nunc illum consumit gladius: conforta bellatores tuos adversus urbem ut destruas eam, et exhortare eos.
25 Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.’ Encourage him.”
26 Audivit autem uxor Uriæ quod mortuus esset Urias vir suus, et planxit eum.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 Transacto autem luctu, misit David, et introduxit eam in domum suam, et facta est ei uxor, peperitque ei filium: et displicuit verbum hoc quod fecerat David, coram Domino.
27 When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Bathsheba
Wife of David and mother of Solomon, remembered amid both sin and grace.
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 1-2; Matthew 1:6
David
The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6
Eliam
Named as the father of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. 1 Chronicles 3:5 calls him Ammiel.
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 11:3; 1 Chronicles 3:5
Uriah
A Hittite warrior, husband of Bathsheba, who would not go home while the ark and the army were in tents, and whom David had placed in the fiercest fighting so that he would be…
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 11:3; 2 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 11:15
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Chronicles 20:1; 1 Kings 20:26; 1 Kings 20:22; 2 Chronicles 36:10; Ecclesiastes 3:8
- 2 Matthew 5:28; Psalm 119:37; 1 John 2:16; Acts 10:9; Job 31:1
- 3 2 Samuel 23:39; 1 Chronicles 3:5; Jeremiah 5:8; James 1:14–15; 1 Chronicles 11:41
- 4 Leviticus 18:19; James 1:14–15; Psalm 51:1–19; Proverbs 30:20; Leviticus 12:2–5
- 5 Deuteronomy 22:22; Proverbs 6:34
- 6 Proverbs 28:13; Matthew 26:70; Isaiah 29:13; Job 20:12–14; Genesis 38:18–23
- 7 1 Samuel 17:22; Genesis 37:14; Genesis 29:6
- 8 Genesis 18:4; Isaiah 29:15; Luke 7:44; Luke 12:2; Psalm 55:21
- 9 Proverbs 21:30; Job 5:12–14
- 11 2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 20:6; 2 Samuel 7:6; 1 Samuel 1:26; 2 Timothy 2:12
- 12 Jeremiah 2:22–23; Jeremiah 2:37
- 13 Habakkuk 2:15; Genesis 19:32–35; Exodus 32:21; Proverbs 20:1
- 14 1 Kings 21:8–10; Jeremiah 17:9; Micah 7:3–5; Psalm 52:2; Psalm 19:13
- 15 2 Samuel 12:9; Psalm 51:4; 2 Samuel 11:17; Psalm 51:14; 1 Samuel 18:21
- 16 1 Kings 2:5; 2 Samuel 20:9–10; 2 Kings 10:6; 1 Kings 21:12–14; 2 Samuel 11:21
- 17 Psalm 51:14; 2 Samuel 12:9
- 21 Judges 9:50–54; Judges 7:1; 2 Samuel 3:27; Judges 6:32; 2 Samuel 3:34
- 25 2 Samuel 12:26; Ecclesiastes 9:1–3; 1 Samuel 6:9; Joshua 7:8–9; Ecclesiastes 9:11–12
- 26 2 Samuel 14:2; 2 Samuel 3:31; Genesis 27:41
- 27 2 Samuel 12:9; Psalm 51:4–5; 1 Chronicles 21:7; Hebrews 13:4; Deuteronomy 22:29
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
But when his lust prompted him to take Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Scripture said concerning him, "Now, the thing (sermo) which David had done appeared wicked in the eyes of the Lord;" and Nathan the prophet is sent to him, pointing out to him his crime, in order that he, passing sentence upon and condemning himself, might obtain …