David and Bathsheba
1It was spring. It was the time when kings go off to war. So David sent Joab out with the king’s special troops and the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites. They marched to the city of Rabbah. They surrounded it and got ready to attack it. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2One evening David got up from his bed. He walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman taking a bath. She was very beautiful. 3David sent a messenger to find out who she was. The messenger returned and said, “She is Bathsheba. She’s the daughter of Eliam. She’s the wife of Uriah. He’s a Hittite.” 4Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him. And he slept with her. Then she went back home. All of that took place after she had already made herself “clean” from her monthly period. 5Later, Bathsheba found out she was pregnant. She sent a message to David. She said, “I’m pregnant.”
6So David sent a message to Joab. David said, “Send me Uriah, the Hittite.” Joab sent him to David. 7Uriah came to David. David asked him how Joab and the soldiers were doing. He also asked him how the war was going. 8David said to Uriah, “Go home and enjoy some time with your wife.” So Uriah left the palace. Then the king sent him a gift. 9But Uriah didn’t go home. Instead, he slept at the entrance to the palace. He stayed there with all his master’s servants.
10David was told, “Uriah didn’t go home.” So he sent for Uriah. David said to him, “You have been away for a long time. Why didn’t you go home?”
11Uriah said to David, “The ark and the army of Israel and Judah are out there in tents. My commander Joab and your special troops are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink? How could I go there and sleep with my wife? I could never do a thing like that. And that’s just as sure as you are alive!”
12Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him. David got him drunk. But Uriah still didn’t go home. In the evening he went out and slept on his mat. He stayed there among his master’s servants.
14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab. He sent it along with Uriah. 15In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front. That’s where the fighting is the heaviest. Then pull your men back from him. When you do, the Ammonites will strike him down and kill him.”
16So Joab attacked the city. He put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest enemy fighters were. 17The troops came out of the city. They fought against Joab. Some of the men in David’s army were killed. Uriah, the Hittite, also died.
18Joab sent David a full report of the battle. 19He told the messenger, “Tell the king everything that happened in the battle. When you are finished, 20his anger might explode. He might ask you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight against it? Didn’t you know that the enemy soldiers would shoot arrows down from the wall? 21Don’t you remember how Abimelek, the son of Jerub-Besheth, was killed? A woman dropped a large millstone on him from the wall. That’s how he died in Thebez. So why did you go so close to the wall?’ If the king asks you that, tell him, ‘And your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.’ ”
22The messenger started out for Jerusalem. When he arrived there, he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23The messenger said to David, “The men in the city were more powerful than we were. They came out to fight against us in the open. But we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24Then those who were armed with bows shot arrows at us from the wall. Some of your special troops were killed. Your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.”
25David told the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t get upset over what happened. Swords kill one person as well as another. So keep on attacking the city. Destroy it.’ Tell that to Joab. It will cheer him up.”
26Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead. She mourned over him. 27When her time of sadness was over, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife. And she had a son by him. But the Lord wasn’t pleased with what David had done.
ዳዊትና ቤርሳቤህ
1ነገሥታት ለጦርነት በሚወጡበት፣ በጸደይ ወራት ዳዊት ኢዮአብን ከንጉሡ ሰዎችና ከመላው የእስራኤል ሰራዊት ጋር አዘመተው፤ እነርሱም አሞናውያንን አጠፉ፤ ረባት የተባለችውንም ከተማ ከበቡ፤ በዚህ ጊዜ ግን ዳዊት በኢየሩሳሌም ቀርቶ ነበር።
2አንድ ቀን ማታ፣ ዳዊት ከዐልጋው ተነሥቶ በቤተ መንግሥቱ ሰገነት ወዲያና ወዲህ ይመላለስ ነበር፤ ከሰገነቱ ላይ እንዳለም፣ አንዲት ሴት ገላዋን ስትታጠብ አየ፤ ሴቲቱም እጅግ በጣም ውብ ነበረች። 3ዳዊትም ሰው ልኮ ስለ ሴቲቱ አጠያየቀ። ሰውየውም፣ “ይህች የኤልያብ ልጅ፣ የኬጢያዊው የኦርዮ ሚስት ቤርሳቤህ አይደለችምን?” አለ። 4ከዚያም ዳዊት መልእክተኞች ልኮ አስመጣት፤ እርሱ ወዳለበት ገባች፤ አብሯትም ተኛ። በዚህም ጊዜ ወርኃዊ የመንጻት ጊዜዋን ፈጽማ ነበር። ከዚያም ተመልሳ ወደ ቤቷ ሄደች። 5ሴቲቱ ፀነሰች፤ ለዳዊትም፣ “አርግዣለሁ” ብላ ላከችበት።
6ስለዚህም ዳዊት ለኢዮአብ፣ “ኬጢያዊውን ኦርዮን ወደ እኔ ስደደው” ሲል ላከበት፤ ኢዮአብም ወደ ዳዊት ላከው። 7ኦርዮን በመጣ ጊዜም፣ ዳዊት የኢዮአብንና የሰራዊቱን ሁሉ ደኅንነት እንዲሁም ጦርነቱ እንዴት እየተካሄደ እንዳለ ጠየቀው። 8ከዚያም ዳዊት ኦርዮን፣ “በል እንግዲህ ወደ ቤትህ ወርደህ እግርህን ታጠብ” አለው። ኦርዮን ከቤተ መንግሥት ተሰናብቶ ወጣ፤ ንጉሡም ማለፊያ ምግብ አስከትሎ ላከለት። 9ነገር ግን ኦርዮ ከጌታው አገልጋዮች ሁሉ ጋር በቤተ መንግሥቱ ቅጽር በር ተኛ እንጂ፣ ወደ ቤቱ አልወረደም ነበር።
10ዳዊት፣ “ኦርዮን ወደ ቤቱ አልሄደም” መባሉን ሲሰማ ኦርዮን፣ “ከመንገድ ገና አሁን መግባትህ አይደለምን? ወደ ቤትህ ያልሄድኸው ለምንድን ነው?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
11ኦርዮም ዳዊትን፣ “ታቦቱ፣ እስራኤልና ይሁዳ በድንኳን ሆነው፣ ጌታዬ ኢዮአብና የጌታዬም ሰዎች አውላላ ሜዳ ላይ ሰፍረው፣ ለመብላትና ለመጠጣት እንዲሁም ከሚስቴ ጋር ለመተኛት እንዴት ወደ ቤቴ እሄዳለሁ? እንዲህ ያለውን ነገር እንደማላደርገው በነፍስህ እምላለሁ” አለው።
12ከዚያም ዳዊት፣ “እንግዲያውስ ዛሬ እዚህ ዕደርና ነገ አሰናብትሃለሁ” አለው። ስለዚህ ኦርዮን በዚያ ዕለትና በማግስቱም እዚያው ኢየሩሳሌም ቈየ። 13በማግስቱም ዳዊት ራሱ ባለበት ግብዣ አድርጎለት በላ፤ ጠጣ፤ አሰከረውም፤ ሲመሽም ኦርዮን በምንጣፉ ላይ ለመተኛት የጌታው አሽከሮች ወዳሉበት ወጥቶ ሄደ እንጂ ወደ ቤቱ አልወረደም።
14ሲነጋም ዳዊት ለኢዮአብ ደብዳቤ ጽፎ በኦርዮን እጅ ላከለት፤ 15በደብዳቤውም ላይ፣ “ኦርዮ ውጊያው በተፋፋመበት ግንባር መድበው፤ ከዚያም ተወግቶ እንዲሞት ትታችሁት ሽሹ” ብሎ ጻፈ።
16ስለዚህም ኢዮአብ ከተማዪቱን በከበባት ጊዜ፣ እጅግ ጠንካራ ተከላካዮች እንዳሉበት በሚያውቀው ግንባር ኦርዮን መደበው። 17የከተማዪቱም ሰዎች ወጥተው ከኢዮአብ ጋር ጦርነት ገጠሙ፤ ከዳዊት ሰራዊት ውስጥ ጥቂቶቹ ወደቁ፤ እንዲሁም ኬጢያዊው ኦርዮም ሞተ።
18ኢዮአብም በጦርነቱ የሆነውን ሁሉ ለዳዊት ላከ። 19መልእክተኛውንም እንዲህ አለው፤ “ይህን የጦርነቱን ወሬ ለንጉሡ ከነገርኸው በኋላ፣ 20ንጉሡ በቍጣ ቱግ ብሎ ‘ለመዋጋት ስትሉ ይህን ያህል ወደ ከተማዪቱ የተጠጋችሁት ስለ ምንድን ነው? ከግንቡ ቅጥር በላይ ፍላጻ እንደሚሰድዱባችሁ አታውቁም ኖሯል? 21የይሩቤሼትን11፥21 ጌዴዎን፣ ይሩበአል በመባልም ይታወቃል። ልጅ አቤሜሌክን የገደለው ማነው? በቴቤስ ከግንብ ቅጥር የወፍጮ መጅ ለቅቃበት የገደለችው አንዲት ሴት አይደለችምን? ታዲያ እናንተስ ወደ ግንቡ ቅጥር ይህን ያህል የተጠጋችሁት ለምንድን ነው?’ በማለት ቢጠይቅህ፣ አንተም መልሰህ፣ ‘አገልጋይህ ኬጢያዊው ኦርዮም ሞቷል’ ብለህ ንገረው።”
22ስለዚህ መልእክተኛው ተነሥቶ ሄደ፤ እዚያ እንደ ደረሰም፣ ከኢዮአብ የተቀበለውን መልእክት በሙሉ ለዳዊት ነገረው። 23መልእክተኛውም ለዳዊት እንዲህ አለው፤ “ሰዎቹ ዐየሉብን፤ እኛንም ለመውጋት ወጥተው እስከ ሜዳው ድረስ መጡ፤ እኛ ግን እስከ ከተማዪቱ ቅጽር መግቢያ ድረስ አሳድደን መለስናቸው። 24ከዚያም ባለ ፍላጻዎቹ ከግንቡ ላይ ሆነው በእኛ በአገልጋዮችህ ላይ ቀስት ስለ ለቀቁ፣ ከንጉሡ አገልጋዮች ጥቂቶቹን ገደሉ፤ አገልጋይህ ኬጢያዊው ኦርዮም ሞተ።”
25ዳዊትም፣ መልእክተኛውን፣ “እንግዲህ እንዲህ ብለህ ይህን ለኢዮአብ ንገረው፤ ‘መቼም ሰይፍ አንድ ጊዜ ይህን፣ ሌላ ጊዜም ሌላውን ትበላለችና በዚህ አትዘን’ ” አለው።
26የኦርዮን ሚስት ባሏ መሞቱን በሰማች ጊዜ ዐዘነች፤ አለቀሰችለትም። 27የሐዘኑ ጊዜ ካበቃ በኋላም፣ ዳዊት ልኮ ቤርሳቤህን ወደ ቤቱ አስመጣት፤ ሚስቱ ሆነች፤ ወንድ ልጅም ወለደችለት፤ ነገር ግን ዳዊት የሠራው ሥራ እግዚአብሔርን አላስደሰተውም ነበር።
