大卫和拔示芭　
　　第二年春天，正是诸王通常出去打仗的时候，大卫派约押率领部队跟以色列军队出征。他们打败亚扪人，攻取拉巴城。但是大卫自己留在耶路撒冷。
　　有一天，近黄昏的时候，大卫小睡起来，到皇宫的平顶上散步，他看见一个女人在洗澡；那女人十分艳丽。大卫派人查询她是谁，知道她叫拔示芭，是以莲的女儿，赫人乌利亚的妻子。大卫派使者去召她；他们把拔示芭接来，大卫就跟她同房。（那时拔示芭的月经刚洁净。）事后，拔示芭回家去。过了不久，拔示芭发觉自己有了身孕，就送信给大卫，告诉他自己已经怀孕。
　　于是大卫派人告诉约押说∶“你打发赫人乌利亚到我这里来。”约押就打发乌利亚去见大卫。乌利亚到了，大卫问他约押和部队可好，前线情况如何？然后对乌利亚说∶“你回家休息一下吧！”乌利亚走后，大卫派人送礼物到他家。但乌利亚并没有回家；他跟王的守卫睡在宫殿门口。大卫听说乌利亚没有回家，就问他∶“你出门那么久，现在回来，为什么不回家呢？”
　　乌利亚回答∶“以色列和犹大的战士都在战场上，约柜也在那里，约押元帅和他的部属都在野外扎营，我怎么能回家吃喝，跟妻子同床呢？我指着你的生命发誓，我绝对不做这样的事！”
　　于是大卫说∶“那么，你今天再留在这里，明天我送你回去。”那一天乌利亚就留在耶路撒冷。第二天，大卫召他来跟自己一起吃喝，让他喝醉了。但那天晚上，乌利亚仍然没有回家；他到王宫守卫室去，睡在自己的毯子上。[注解]　
　　第二天早上，大卫写了一封信给约押，吩咐乌利亚带去。信上说∶“把乌利亚调到战事最猛烈的前线，然后你们撤退，让他战死。”因此，当约押攻城的时候，他派乌利亚到敌军防御最强的地方去。敌军从城里出来，突击约押的部队。大卫的军官有些战死；赫人乌利亚也阵亡了。
　　事后，约押把战事的经过呈报大卫；约押指示使者说∶“在你向王报告这次战役的经过后，他可能发怒，责问说∶‘你们为什么那样靠近敌方的城墙作战？难道你们不知道敌人会从城墙上射箭吗？你们忘了基甸的儿子亚比米勒是怎么死的吗？他是在提备斯被一个女人从城墙上推下来的一块磨石压死的。为什么你们那么靠近城墙作战呢？’如果王问这些话，你就告诉他∶‘王的军官乌利亚也死了。’”
　　使者到大卫王那里，照着约押指示他的话向王报告，说∶“敌军比我们强大；他们从城里冲出来，在城郊跟我们打。我们把敌军赶回城门口；他们就从城墙上对准我们射箭。陛下的一些军官中箭阵亡；赫人乌利亚也死了。”
　　大卫对使者说∶“你回去鼓励约押，叫他不要难过，因为战场上谁死谁活是不可预料的。鼓励他，要集中力量攻城，把它倾覆了。”
　　乌利亚的妻子拔示芭听到丈夫阵亡的消息就为他举哀。居丧的日期过后，大卫把拔示芭接进宫里，成为王的妻子，给王生了一个儿子。但是上主对大卫所做这事十分不悦。

　　David and Bathsheba　
　　The 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.[注解]　
　　One 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. So 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. David 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. Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.
　　David then sent a message to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent him to David. When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going. Then he said to Uriah, "Go on home and rest a while." Uriah left, and David had a present sent to his home. But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards. When 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?"
　　Uriah 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!"
　　So 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. David 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.[注解]　
　　The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. He wrote: "Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed." So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong. The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces; some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah.
　　Then Joab sent a report to David telling him about the battle, and he instructed the messenger, "After you have told the king all about the battle, he 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? Don'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.'"[注解]　
　　So the messenger went to David and told him what Joab had commanded him to say. He 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. Then they shot arrows at us from the wall, and some of Your Majesty's officers were killed; your officer Uriah was also killed."
　　David 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."
　　When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. When 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.