13. At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16. So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18. Joab sent David a full account of the battle.
19. He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,
20. the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?