Marriage Legislation. ¹³ If a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, comes to dislike her,^{(A) 14} and accuses her of misconduct and slanders her by saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her I did not find evidence of her virginity,” ¹⁵ the father and mother of the young woman shall take the evidence of her virginity^[a] and bring it to the elders at the city gate. ¹⁶ There the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, but he has come to dislike her, ¹⁷ and now accuses her of misconduct, saying: ‘I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.’ But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” And they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then these city elders shall take the man and discipline him,^{[b] 19} and fine him one hundred silver shekels, which they shall give to the young woman’s father, because the man slandered a virgin in Israel. She shall remain his wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives. ²⁰ But if this charge is true, and evidence of the young woman’s virginity is not found, ²¹ they shall bring the young woman to the entrance of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a shameful crime in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.^(B)

²² If a man is discovered lying with a woman who is married to another, they both shall die, the man who was lying with the woman as well as the woman.^(C) Thus shall you purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If there is a young woman, a virgin who is betrothed,^[c] and a man comes upon her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴ you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the young woman because she did not cry out though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. ²⁵ But if it is in the open fields that a man comes upon the betrothed young woman, seizes her and lies with her, only the man who lay with her shall die. ²⁶ You shall do nothing to the young woman, since the young woman is not guilty of a capital offense. As when a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, so in this case:^{[d](D) 27} it was in the open fields that he came upon her, and though the betrothed young woman may have cried out, there was no one to save her.

^28 (E)If a man comes upon a young woman, a virgin who is not betrothed, seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, ²⁹ the man who lay with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels and she will be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her as long as he lives.

Chapter 23

¹ A man shall not marry his father’s wife,^[e] nor shall he dishonor his father’s bed.^(F)

Chapter 20

Abraham at Gerar.^{[a] 1} From there Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he settled between Kadesh and Shur.^[b] While he resided in Gerar as an alien, ² Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him: You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband. ⁴ Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: “O Lord, would you kill an innocent man? ⁵ Was he not the one who told me, ‘She is my sister’? She herself also stated, ‘He is my brother.’ I acted with pure heart and with clean hands.” ^6 [c]God answered him in the dream: Yes, I know you did it with a pure heart. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷ So now, return the man’s wife so that he may intercede for you, since he is a prophet,^[d] that you may live. If you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours will die.

⁸ Early the next morning Abimelech called all his servants and informed them of everything that had happened, and the men were filled with fear. ⁹ Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: “What have you done to us! What wrong did I do to you that you would have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have treated me in an intolerable way. ¹⁰ What did you have in mind,” Abimelech asked him, “that you would do such a thing?” ¹¹ Abraham answered, “I thought there would be no fear of God^[e] in this place, and so they would kill me on account of my wife. ¹² Besides, she really is my sister,^[f] but only my father’s daughter, not my mother’s; and so she became my wife. ¹³ When God sent me wandering from my father’s house, I asked her: ‘Would you do me this favor? In whatever place we come to, say: He is my brother.’”^(A)

¹⁴ Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham; and he restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Then Abimelech said, “Here, my land is at your disposal; settle wherever you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said: “I hereby give your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This will preserve your honor before all who are with you and will exonerate you before everyone.” ¹⁷ Abraham then interceded with God, and God restored health to Abimelech, to his wife, and his maidservants, so that they bore children; ¹⁸ for the Lord had closed every womb in Abimelech’s household on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

⁷ After a time, his master’s wife looked at him with longing and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, as long as I am here, my master does not give a thought to anything in the house, but has entrusted to me all he owns. ⁹ He has no more authority in this house than I do. He has withheld from me nothing but you, since you are his wife. How, then, could I do this great wrong and sin against God?” ¹⁰ Although she spoke to him day after day, he would not agree to lie with her, or even be near her.^(A)

¹¹ One such day, when Joseph came into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were then in the house, ¹² she laid hold of him by his cloak, saying, “Lie with me!” But leaving the cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand as he escaped outside, ¹⁴ she cried out to her household servants and told them, “Look! My husband has brought us a Hebrew man to mock us! He came in here to lie with me, but I cried out loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he left his cloak beside me and escaped and ran outside.”

¹⁶ She kept the cloak with her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave whom you brought us came to me to amuse himself at my expense. ¹⁸ But when I screamed, he left his cloak beside me and escaped outside.” ¹⁹ When the master heard his wife’s story in which she reported, “Thus and so your servant did to me,” he became enraged. ²⁰ Joseph’s master seized him and put him into the jail where the king’s prisoners were confined.^(B) And there he sat, in jail.

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.^(A)

²⁰ You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife,^[a](A) defiling yourself with her.

^10 [a]If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife,^(A) both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

Chapter 11

David’s Sin. ¹ At the turn of the year,^[a] the time when kings go to war, David sent out Joab along with his officers and all Israel, and they laid waste the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. David himself remained in Jerusalem.^{(A) 2} One evening David rose from his bed and strolled about on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; she was very beautiful. ³ David sent people to inquire about the woman and was told, “She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, Joab’s armor-bearer.”^{(B) 4} Then David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he took her to bed, at a time when she was just purified after her period; and she returned to her house.^{(C) 5} But the woman had become pregnant; she sent a message to inform David, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent a message to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ And when he came, David asked him how Joab was, how the army was, and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well. ⁸ David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” Uriah left the king’s house, and a portion from the king’s table was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his own house. ¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So he said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why, then, did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriah answered David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord Joab and my lord’s servants are encamped in the open field. Can I go home to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As the Lord lives and as you live, I will do no such thing.”^{(D) 12} Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. On the following day, ¹³ David summoned him, and he ate and drank with David, who got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed among his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab which he sent by Uriah. ¹⁵ This is what he wrote in the letter: “Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.” ¹⁶ So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the defenders were strong. ¹⁷ When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab, some officers of David’s army fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

¹⁸ Then Joab sent David a report of all the details of the battle, ¹⁹ instructing the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle, ²⁰ the king may become angry and say to you: ‘Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall above? ²¹ Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal? Was it not a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall above, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’ Then you in turn are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”^{(E) 22} The messenger set out, and on his arrival he reported to David everything Joab had sent him to tell.^{[b] 23} He told David: “The men had the advantage over us and came out into the open against us, but we pushed them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall above, and some of the king’s servants died; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” ²⁵ David said to the messenger: “This is what you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this be a great evil in your sight, for the sword devours now here and now there. Strengthen your attack on the city and destroy it.’ Encourage him.”

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband had died, she mourned her lord. ²⁷ But once the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But in the sight of the Lord what David had done was evil.

Chapter 12

Nathan’s Parable.^{[c] 1} The Lord sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him, he said: “Tell me how you judge this case: In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.^{(F) 2} The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers. ³ But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. Of what little he had she ate; from his own cup she drank; in his bosom she slept; she was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now, a visitor came to the rich man, but he spared his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him: he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” ⁵ David grew very angry with that man and said to Nathan: “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves death! ⁶ He shall make fourfold restitution^[d] for the lamb because he has done this and was unsparing.”^{(G) 7} Then Nathan said to David: “You are the man!

Nathan’s Indictment. “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you from the hand of Saul.^{(H) 8} I gave you your lord’s house and your lord’s wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more. ⁹ Why have you despised the Lord and done what is evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; his wife you took as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.^{(I) 11} Thus says the Lord: I will bring evil upon you out of your own house. I will take your wives before your very eyes, and will give them to your neighbor: he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.^{[e](J) 12} You have acted in secret, but I will do this in the presence of all Israel, in the presence of the sun itself.”

David’s Repentance. ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan answered David: “For his part, the Lord has removed your sin. You shall not die,^{(K) 14} but since you have utterly spurned the Lord by this deed, the child born to you will surely die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan returned to his house.

The Lord struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David, and it became desperately ill. ¹⁶ David pleaded with God on behalf of the child. He kept a total fast, and spent the night lying on the ground clothed in sackcloth. ¹⁷ The elders of his house stood beside him to get him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor would he take food with them. ¹⁸ On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said: “When the child was alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to what we said. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do some harm!” ¹⁹ But David noticed his servants whispering among themselves and realized that the child was dead. He asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “Yes.” ²⁰ Rising from the ground, David washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. He returned to his own house and asked for food; they set it before him, and he ate. ²¹ His servants said to him: “What is this you are doing? While the child was living, you fasted and wept and kept vigil; now that the child is dead, you rise and take food.” ²² He replied: “While the child was living, I fasted and wept, thinking, ‘Who knows? The Lord may grant me the child’s life.’ ²³ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”^{(L) 24} Then David consoled Bathsheba his wife. He went and slept with her; and she conceived and bore him a son, who was named Solomon. The Lord loved him ²⁵ and sent the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah,^[f] on behalf of the Lord.

⁹ Do you think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not know,^(A)