What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, ¹  O Lord God!

You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ¹  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.)

So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger ¹  said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.

You rescue me from a hostile army; ¹  you preserve me as a leader of nations; people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. ² 

Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ¹ 

The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.”

Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men – they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. ¹  Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.