Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

      ¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵And he wrote in the letter, saying: 'Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.' ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab kept watch upon the city, that he assigned Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men were. ¹⁷And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. ¹⁸Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; ¹⁹and he charged the messenger, saying: 'When thou hast made an end of telling all the things concerning the war unto the king, ²⁰it shall be that, if the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee: Wherefore went ye so nigh unto the city to fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, that he died at Thebez? why went ye so nigh the wall? then shalt thou say: Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'

      ²²So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for. ²³And the messenger said unto David: 'The men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entrance of the gate. ²⁴And the shooters shot at thy servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.' ²⁵Then David said unto the messenger: 'Thus shalt thou say unto Joab: Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth in one manner or another; make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it; and encourage thou him.'

      ²⁶And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. ²⁷And 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 the Lord.

      12And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him: 'There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. ²The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; ³but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared; and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. ⁴And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.' ⁵And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan: 'As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this deserveth to die; ⁶and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.'

      ⁷And Nathan said to David: 'Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; ⁸and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that were too little, then would I add unto thee so much more. ⁹Wherefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do that which is evil in My sight? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten with the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to be thy wife, and him thou hast slain with the sword of the children of Ammon. ¹⁰Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised Me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. ¹¹Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.' ¹³And David said unto Nathan: 'I have sinned against the Lord.' And Nathan said unto David: 'The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. ¹⁴Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast greatly blasphemed the enemies of the Lord, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.' ¹⁵And Nathan departed unto his house.

      And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore unto David, and it was very sick. ¹⁶David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and as often as he went in, he lay all night upon the earth. ¹⁷And the elders of his house arose, and stood beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. ¹⁸And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said: 'Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he hearkened not unto our voice; how then shall we tell him that the child is dead, so that he do himself some harm?' ¹⁹But when David saw that his servants whispered together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said unto his servants: 'Is the child dead?' And they said: 'He is dead.' ²⁰Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. ²¹Then said his servants unto him: 'What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.' ²²And he said: 'While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said: Who knoweth whether the Lord will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? ²³But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.'

²⁴And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him; ²⁵and He sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name ⁵Jedidiah, for the Lord's sake.

      ²⁶Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David, and said: 'I have fought against Rabbah, yea, I have taken the city of waters. ²⁸Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.' ²⁹And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. ³⁰And he took the crown of Malcam from off his head; and the weight thereof was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much. ³¹And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln; and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.

      13And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. ²And Amnon was so distressed that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do any thing unto her. ³But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man. ⁴And he said unto him: 'Why, O son of the king, art thou thus becoming leaner from day to day? wilt thou not tell me?' And Amnon said unto him: 'I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.' ⁵And Jonadab said unto him: 'Lay thee down on thy bed, and feign thyself sick; and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him: Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.' ⁶So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick; and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king: 'Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.'

      ⁷Then David sent home to Tamar, saying: 'Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him food.' ⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was lying down. And she took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. ⁹And she took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said: 'Have out all men from me.' And they went out every man from him. ¹⁰And Amnon said unto Tamar: 'Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat of thy hand.'