2 Samuel 11:1

David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings ¹  normally conduct wars, ²  David sent out Joab with his officers ³  and the entire Israelite army. ⁴  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 11:17

11:17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers ⁶  fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

¹ tc Codex Leningrad (B19A), on which BHS is based, has here “messengers” (הַמַּלְאכִים, hammal’khim), probably as the result of contamination from the occurrence of that word in v. 4. The present translation follows most Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, which read “kings” (הַמֶּלָאכִים, hammela’kim).

² tn Heb “go out.”

³ tn Heb “and his servants with him.”

⁴ tn Heb “all Israel.”

⁵ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts David’s inactivity with the army’s activity.

⁶ tn Heb “some of the people from the servants of David.”