One Year Bible.

David and Bathsheba

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

²One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing— a very beautiful woman. ³So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

⁴Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. ⁵And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁶At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.

⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. ⁸Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

¹⁰And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.”

“Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

¹²“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

¹³Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

David Arranges Uriah’s Death

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? 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.”

David Marries Bathsheba

²⁶When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

Nathan Rebukes David

¹Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.”

⁵David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

⁹Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. ¹²You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

David’s Loss and Repentance

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

“The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die. ¹⁴Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”

¹⁵After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground. ¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.”

¹⁹When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”

“He is dead,” they replied.

²⁰Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

²¹“What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”

²²David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Solomon’s Birth

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.

Now the LORD loved the child ²⁵and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah because the LORD loved him.

The Capture of Rabbah

²⁶Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress. ²⁷Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city. ²⁸Now, therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

²⁹So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; and he fought against it and captured it. ³⁰Then he took the crown from the head of their king. It weighed a talent of gold and was set with precious stones, and it was placed on David’s head. And David took a great amount of plunder from the city.

³¹David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

The LORD Speaks of His Creation

¹“Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?

²Can you count the months they are pregnant?

Do you know the time they give birth?

³They crouch down and bring forth their young;

they deliver their newborn.

⁴Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field;

they leave and do not return.

⁵Who set the wild donkey free?

Who released the swift donkey from the harness?

⁶I made the wilderness his home

and the salt flats his dwelling.

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city

and never hears the shouts of a driver.

⁸He roams the mountains for pasture,

searching for any green thing.

⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you?

Will he stay by your manger at night?

¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?

Will he plow the valleys behind you?

¹¹Can you rely on his great strength?

Will you leave your hard work to him?

¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain

and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground

and lets them warm in the sand.

¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them,

or a wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if not her own,

with no concern that her labor was in vain.

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom;

He has not endowed her with understanding.

¹⁸Yet when she proudly spreads her wings,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse

or adorn his neck with a mane?

²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust,

striking terror with his proud snorting?

²¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

he charges into battle.

²²He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing;

he does not turn back from the sword.

²³A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and lance.

²⁴Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance;

he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.

²⁵At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor.

He catches the scent of battle from afar,

the shouts of captains and the cry of war.

²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding

and spread his wings toward the south?

²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command

and make his nest on high?

²⁸He dwells on a cliff and lodges there;

his stronghold is on a rocky crag.

²⁹From there he spies out food;

his eyes see it from afar.

³⁰His young ones feast on blood;

and where the slain are, there he is.”

Job Humbles Himself before the LORD

¹And the LORD said to Job:

²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?

Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You?

I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, but I have no answer —

twice, but I have nothing to add.”

The LORD Challenges Job Again

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

⁷“Now brace yourself like a man;

I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁸Would you really annul My justice?

Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s?

Can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,

and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Unleash the fury of your wrath;

look on every proud man and bring him low.

¹²Look on every proud man and humble him;

trample the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them together in the dust;

imprison them in the grave.

¹⁴Then I will confess to you

that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you.

He feeds on grass like an ox.

¹⁶See the strength of his loins

and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷His tail sways like a cedar;

the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze;

his limbs are rods of iron.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works;

only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield him their produce,

while all the beasts of the field play nearby.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants,

hidden among the reeds of the marsh.

²²The lotus plants conceal him in their shade;

the willows of the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;

he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him as he looks on,

or pierce his nose with a snare?[’’]