Dafite na Bhatisheba
1 Kukati mu tjilimo, nge tjibaka tja bomambo bebhuda beyenda ku ngwa, Dafite katuma Joabu ne makombgwa awe ne ngwa yose ye Iziraela. Bakalobesa Baamoni, bebuya bekomba Rabha nge ngwa. Koga Dafite iye wakabe asala ku Jerusalema.
2 Kukati limwe zhuba kuli matewuko Dafite emuka pa bulawo gugwe, kabe eyendayenda pezhugwi kwe denga le ng'umba iye ye bushe. Kati ali pezhugwi kwe ng'umba kabona nkadzi engula, nkadzi mbuya kwazo. 3 Dafite katuma ntumwa kunobhuzwisisa ngekwe nkadzi iwoyo. Kukalebgwa kuyi, “Ndi Bhatisheba nkololokadzi wa Eliamu, nkadzi wa Uriya we Nhiti.” 4 Ndizo Dafite katuma batumwa kunon'dana, nkadzi kazha, Dafite kalala naye. (Bhatisheba wakabe atjadwa mu kuzwitjenapadza shule kwe mazhuba awe e mangulilo.) Shule kwa ipapo kabgwilila ku nzi uwe. 5 Ngono nkadzi kazwisenga katumila dama kuna Dafite eti, “Ndakazwisenga.”
6 Ndizo Dafite katumila dama kuna Joabu eti, “Tumila Uriya we Nhiti kundili.” Ngono Joabu katumila Uriya kuna Dafite. 7 Kwakati Uriya eswika kuna Dafite, kambhuzwa kuti Joabu ne babhayani bamuka tjini nenge ngwa kuti inoyenda tjini. 8 Ipapo Dafite kadwa Uriya kati, “Yenda ku ng'umba iyo, unonyatutuka.” Uriya kadwa mu ng'umba ye bushe kayenda, ngono katobedziwa tjipo ku ng'umba iye tjidwa kuna mambo. 9 Koga Uriya kayizela pa nkoba we ng'umba ye bushe ne balanda bose ba tetshi uwe, kasitongoyenda ku nzi uwe. 10 Kukati Dafite ehwa kuti Uriya aazoyenda ku nzi uwe, kambhuzwa kati, “Apa ateiko kwawabe utjaswika wagala usipo, ini usayenda ku nzi uwo kene?”
11 Uriya kashandula Dafite eti, “Balume be Iziraela ne Juda ba mu ngwa ku shango, ne Bhokisi le Tjidumano banalo ikoko na tetshi wangu Joabu ne makombgwa awe bagele mu shango pa liteya njelele. Apa ndingayenda ku nzi wangu ndinoja nding'wa ndibuya ndilala ne nkadzi wangu kene? Ndolebesa ndotuna, se mutjatjila, andingafe ndathama kuthu kwakajalo.”
12 Ndizo Dafite kadwa Uriya kati, “Ushwe ipapa kakale nasi, ngono mangwana ndowokuletja ukabgwililazo.” Ndizo Uriya kashwa mu Jerusalema zhuba ilelo nenge tjimuka. 13 Dafite kankoka kunoja ebuya eng'wa naye, ngono kanlaladzisa, kukati madekwana Uriya kabhuda kanoyizela pa thobo dzidze ne balanda ba tetshi uwe, koga kasitongoyenda ku nzi uwe.
14 Tjimuka mangwanana Dafite kakwalila Joabu lukwalo, kagupa Uriya kunompa igo. 15 Mu lukwalo wakakwala eti, “Mutungamidze Uriya mu ngwa kwainolema kwazo, mube muntshedukila kuti abhaiwe afe.” 16 Kukati Joabu ekomba nzi nge ngwa, kadwa Uriya kunongina paakabe eziba kuti zwita zwakasima. 17 Balume be nzi iwoyo bakabhuda kuwobhayana na Joabu, bamwe be babhayani, balanda ba Dafite bakafa na Uriya we Nhiti kabulawabo. 18 Joabu wakatuma ntumwa kunobudza Dafite nge buzhalo ngekwe ngwa. 19 Kadwa ntumwa kati, “Ha usinopedza kubudza mambo thawu dzose ngekwe ngwa, 20 ha mambo bangazhala bushongola, ha bangakubhuzwa beti, ‘Ini makangina kusi kwe nzi kwazo kugwa? Apa makabe musingazibe kuti banowoposa misebe betjuludza guma kene? 21 Apa ndiyani wakabulaya Abimeleki nkololo wa Jerubesheti kene? Apa nkadzi azoposa gwiyo katjuludza guma likan'wila, kabe efa ku Thebesi? Ini makabe musedzela kusi kwe guma?’ Ube udwa mambo uti, ‘Ne nlanda wenyu Uriya we Nhiti wafabo.’ ”
22 Ndizo ntumwa kayenda, ngono wakati eswika kabudza Dafite zose zwaakabe adwiwa ndi Joabu kuti azwilebe. 23 Ntumwa wakabudza Dafite eti, “Balume ibabaje bakatikulila, bakabhuda bakagwa naswi mu shango, koga takabatutudzila shule tikanobasiya pa nkoba we nzi. 24 Ipapo Baposi be misebe bakaposela misebe ku balanda benyu balipezhugwi kwe guma, ngono bamwe be balanda ba mambo bakafa ne nlanda wenyu Uriya we Nhiti wakafabo.”
25 Dafite wakadwa ntumwa kati, “Udwe Joabu uti, ‘Kuthu ikoku kusikugwadzise moyo, ngobe thumo lobhaya walinobe lalingisana naye. Igwani makasima mukolomodze nzi iwoyu.’ Ulebe uijalo kusimisa Joabu tjilopa.”
26 Kwakati nkadzi wa Uriya ehwa kuti nlume uwe wafa, akanlilila. 27 Kukati tjibaka tje tjililo tjapinda, Dafite kabe eti nkadzi wa Uriya azhisiwe ku ng'umba iye, ngono kanlobola, akawanila Dafite mwana we tjilisana. Koga kuthu ikoku kwakathamwa ndi Dafite kukasishathise Yahwe.
David and Bathsheba
(1 Chronicles 20.1a)1 It was now spring, the time when kings go to war. David sent out the whole Israelite army under the command of Joab and his officers. They destroyed the Ammonite army and surrounded the capital city of Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
2-4 Late one afternoon, David got up from a nap and was walking around on the flat roof of his palace. A beautiful young woman was down below in her courtyard, bathing as her religion required. David happened to see her, and he sent one of his servants to find out who she was.
The servant came back and told David, “Her name is Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam, and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
David sent some messengers to bring her to his palace. She came to him, and he slept with her. Then she returned home. 5 But later, when she found out that she was going to have a baby, she sent someone to David with this message: “I'm pregnant!”
6 David sent a message to Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.”
Joab sent Uriah 7 to David's palace, and David asked him, “Is Joab well? How is the army doing? And how about the war?” 8 Then David told Uriah, “Go home and clean up.” Uriah left the king's palace, and David had dinner sent to Uriah's house. 9 But Uriah didn't go home. Instead, he slept outside the entrance to the royal palace, where the king's guards slept.
10 Someone told David that Uriah had not gone home. So the next morning David asked him, “Why didn't you go home? Haven't you been away for a long time?”
11 Uriah answered, “The sacred chest and the armies of Israel and Judah are camping out somewhere in the fields with our commander Joab and his officers and troops. Do you really think I would go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? I swear by your life that I would not!”
12 Then David said, “Stay here in Jerusalem today, and I will send you back tomorrow.”
Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. Then the next day, 13 David invited him for dinner. Uriah ate with David, who gave him so much to drink that he got drunk. But Uriah still did not go home. He went out and slept on his mat near the palace guards. 14 Early the next morning, David wrote a letter and told Uriah to deliver it to Joab. 15 The letter said: “Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is the worst. Then pull the troops back from him, so that he will be wounded and die.”
16 Joab had been carefully watching the city of Rabbah, and he put Uriah in a place where he knew there were some of the enemy's best soldiers. 17 When the men of the city came out, they fought and killed some of David's soldiers—Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Joab sent a messenger to tell David everything that was happening in the war. 19 He gave the messenger these orders:
When you finish telling the king everything that has happened, 20 he may get angry and ask, “Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Don't you know how Abimelech the son of Gideon was killed at Thebez? Didn't a woman kill him by dropping a large rock from the top of the city wall? Why did you go so close to the city walls?”
Then tell him, “One of your soldiers who was killed was Uriah the Hittite.”
22 The messenger went to David and reported everything Joab had told him. 23 He added, “The enemy chased us from the wall and out into the open fields. But we pushed them back as far as the city gate. 24 Then they shot arrows at us from the top of the wall. Some of your soldiers were killed, and one of them was Uriah the Hittite.”
25 David replied, “Tell Joab to cheer up and not to be upset about what happened. You never know who will be killed in a war. Tell him to strengthen his attack against the city and break through its walls.”
26 When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 Then after the time for mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to the palace. She became David's wife, and they had a son.
The Lord's Message for David
The Lord was angry because of what David had done,