2 Samuel 11:14–25

¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

¹⁶So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. ¹⁷And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

¹⁸Joab sent to David a full account of the battle ¹⁹and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle, ²⁰if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? ²¹Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth^d? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’

If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

²²So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. ²³The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

²⁵Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”