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One evening David got up from his couch and was walking on the [flat] [a]roof of the king’s palace, and from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very beautiful in appearance. David sent word and inquired about the woman. Someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. And [b]when she was purified from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 11:2 In middle eastern homes the roof was often used as a living space or patio.
  2. 2 Samuel 11:4 This casual observation reflects the hypocrisy of David and Bathsheba’s sin. Evidently they both bathed and observed other ritual requirements of the Mosaic Law regarding sexual relations (Lev 15:18 etc.), as if that somehow mitigated the much graver sin of adultery. Both participants in adultery were to be punished by death (Lev 20:10).

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