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¹ And whan ye yeare came aboute what tyme as ye kynges vse to go forth, Dauid sent Ioab and his seruautes with him, and all Israel, to destroye the children of Ammon, and to laye sege vnto Rabba: but Dauid abode at Ierusalem.² And aboute the euetyde it fortuned that Dauid arose from his restinge place, & wente vp to ye toppe of the kynges palace, and from ye toppe he sawe a woman waßshinge hir selfe, and the woman was of a very fayre bewtye.³ And Dauid sent, and caused to axe what woman it was, and sayde: Is not that Bethseba the doughter of Eliam the wife of Vrias the Hethite?⁴ And Dauid sent messaugers, and caused for to fetch her. And wha she was come in vnto him, he laye with her. Neuertheles she halowed hir selfe from hir vnclennes, and turned agayne vnto hir house.⁵ And the woma was with childe, and sent, and caused to tell Dauid and to saye: I am with childe.

⁶ Dauid sent vnto Ioab (sayege:) Sende me Vrias ye Hethite. And Ioab sent Vrias vnto Dauid.⁷ And whan Vrias came to him, Dauid axed him yf it stode well with Ioab, and with the people and with the battayll.⁸ And Dauid sayde to Vrias: Go downe in to thy house, and wash thy fete. And whan Vrias wente out of the kynges palace, the kynges gifte folowed him.⁹ And Vrias layed him downe to slepe before the kynges palace gate, where all his lordes seruauntes laye, & wente not downe in to his house.¹⁰ Whan worde came to Dauid: Vrias is not gone downe in to his house, Dauid sayde vnto him: Camest thou not ouer the felde? Why wentest thou not downe in to thy house?¹¹ Vrias sayde vnto Dauid: The Arke and Israel & Iuda abyde in the tentes: And Ioab my lorde and my lordes seruauntes lye in ye felde, and shal I go in to my house to eate and drynke, and to lye with my wife? As truly as thou lyuest, and as truly as thy soule lyueth, I wyll not do this thinge.¹² Dauid sayde vnto Vria: Abyde here then to daye, tomorow wil I let the go. So Vrias abode at Ierusalem the same daye, and the nexte also.¹³ And Dauid called him to eate & drynke before him, & made him dronken. And at euen he wente to lye him downe for to slepe vpon his couche with his lordes seruauntes, and wente not downe in to his house.

¹⁴ On the morow wrote Dauid a letter vnto Ioab, & sent it by Vrias.¹⁵ After this maner wrote he in the letter: Set Vrias in ye forest parte of ye batayll, & turne you behynde him, yt he maye be slayne.¹⁶ Now wha Ioab layed sege to the cite, he set Vrias in ye place, where he knewe yt the mightiest men of Armes were.¹⁷ And whan the men of the cite fell out and foughte agaynst Ioab, there fell certayne of ye people of Dauids seruauntes. And Vrias the Hethite dyed also.¹⁸ Then sent Ioab, and caused to tell ye kynge all the matter concernynge the battayll,¹⁹ and comaunded the messaunger, and sayde: Whan thou hast tolde ye kynge all the matter concernynge the batayll,²⁰ and seist that he is wroth, and yf the kynge saye vnto the: Wherfore came ye so nye the cite with the batayll? Knowe ye not how they vse to shute from the wall?²¹ Who smote Abimelech the sonne of Ierubaall? Dyd not a woma cast a pece of a mylstone vpo him from the wall, so that he dyed at Thebez? Why came ye so nye the wall? Then shalt thou saye: Thy seruaunt Vrias the Hethite is deed also.²² The messaunger wente his waye, and came and tolde Dauid all together, wherfore Ioab had sent him.²³ And the messaunger sayde vnto Dauid: The men preuayled against vs, and fell out vnto vs in to ye felde: and we were vpon them harde at the dore of ye porte.²⁴ And the archers shot from the wall vpon thy seruauntes, and slewe certayne of the kynges seruauntes: and thy seruaunt Vrias the Hethite is deed also.²⁵ Dauid sayde vnto the messaunger: Thus shalt thou saye vnto Ioab: Let not yt vexe the, for the swerde consumeth now one now another. Go forth with the battayll against the cite, that thou mayest destroye it, and coforte the men.²⁶ And whan Vrias wife herde that Vrias was deed, she mourned for hir hußbande.²⁷ But wha she had made an ende of mournynge, Dauid sent, and caused her be fetched vnto his palace, and she became his wyfe, and bare him a sonne. Neuertheles this dede yt Dauid dyd, displeased the LORDE.