It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch
and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house,
that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.
David sent someone to inquire about the woman.
It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
(Now she was purifying herself after her period). Then she returned to her house.
The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
2 Samuel 11:2-5 (New Revised Standard Version)
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle,
David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him;
they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah.
But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 11:1 (NRSV)
It’s the decision before the decision that often brings bad results.
Oh! What a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.
from Marmion, by Sir Walter Scott
With great power comes great responsibility.
from Spiderman’s Uncle Ben
Nathan Rebukes David – 2 Samuel 12: 1-9