Skip to content
mannafest.faith

2 Samuel 11:2

in 2 Samuel 11

One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

KJV

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

This verse in 2 Samuel 11

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

In an evening-tide - David arose - He had been reposing on the roof of his house, to enjoy the breeze, as the noonday was too hot for the performance of business. This is still a constant custom on the flat-roofed houses in the East. He saw a woman washing herself - How could any woman of delicacy expose herself where she could be so fully and openly viewed? Did she not know that she was at least in view of the king’s terrace? Was there no design in all this? Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.

This site's exposition

walked upon the roof

on 2 Samuel 11:2-3

David rises in the evening and walks upon the roof, and the sight moves before any word is spoken. He sends and enquires, and the answer names three people in one breath, the woman, her father Eliam, and her husband Uriah the Hittite. Eliam himself later stands among David's mighty men at the end of the book, son of Ahithophel; some draw a line from that later verse to this one and read Ahithophel as her grandfather, though the text itself never says so here. The enquiry could have ended the matter; instead it becomes the first step past looking.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Jerome

LETTER 22.12 · Written before 420.

proposed

David was a man after God's own heart, and his lips had often sung of the Holy One, the future Christ. Yet as he walked upon his housetop he was fascinated by Bathsheba's nudity, and [he] added murder to adultery. Notice here how, even in his own house, a man cannot use his eyes without danger. Then repenting, he says to the Lord, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight." Being a king he feared no one else.

A commentator

Cassiodorus

EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 50 (51).1-2 · Written before 585.

proposed

For blessed Jerome among others points out that Bathsheba manifested a type of the church or of human flesh and says that David bore the mark of Christ; this is clearly apt at many points. Just as Bathsheba when washing herself unclothed in the brook …

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Apology for the Prophet David, Chapter 1 · Written before 397.

proposed

We have taken up the task of writing an apology for the present style of the prophet David, not because he needs this gift, who has excelled in such great merits and flourished in virtues, but because many people, reading the sequence of his deeds without considering the power of the Scriptures or the hidden mysteries, wonder how such a great prophet did not avoid the contagion of adultery first and then of murder. Therefore, it was our desire to review the history itself, which seems to have been exposed to sin.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job, Book 3, Section 55 · Written before 604.

proposed

For who, that hears of it, not only among believers but of unbelievers themselves also, does not utterly loathe this, that David walking upon his solar lusteth after Beershebah the wife of Uriah? Yet when he returns back from the battle, he bids him go home to wash his feet. Whereupon he answered at once, "The Ark of the Lord abideth in tents, shall I then take rest in my house?" David received him to his own board, and delivers to him letters, through which he must die. But of whom does David walking upon his solar bear a figure, saving of Him, concerning Whom it is written, "He hath set his tabernacle in the sun"? And what else is it to draw Beersheba to himself, but to join to Himself by a spiritual meaning the Law of the formal letter, which was united to a carnal people? For Beersheba is rendered 'the seventh well,' assuredly, in that through the knowledge of the Law, with spiritual grace infused, perfect wisdom is ministered unto us. And whom does Uriah denote, but the Jewish people, whose name is rendered by interpretation, 'My light from God?' Now forasmuch as the Jewish people is raised high by receiving the knowledge of the Law, it as it were glories 'in the light of God.' But David took from this Uriah his wife, and united her to himself, surely in that the strong-handed One, which is the rendering of 'David,' our Redeemer, shewed Himself in the flesh, whilst He made known that the Law spake in a spiritual sense concerning Himself, Hereby, that it was held by them after the letter, He proved it to be alienated from the Jewish people, and joined it to Himself, in that He declared Himself to be proclaimed by it. […]

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Arose from off his bed - Where he had lain, and slept for some time. And the bed of sloth often proves the bed of lust. Washing herself - In a bath, which was in her garden.
4 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The sin came in at the eye, as Eve's did. Perhaps he sought to see her, at least he did not practise according to his own prayer, Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, and his son's caution in a like case, Look not thou on the wine it is red. Either he had not, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it.
And it came to pass in an eveningtide,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed--The Hebrews, like other Orientals, rose at daybreak, and always took a nap during the heat of the day. Afterwards they lounged in the cool of the evening on their flat-roofed terraces. It is probable that David had ascended to enjoy the open-air refreshment earlier than usual.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

An eveningtide - The evening began at three o’clock in the afternoon.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

At the time [of year] when kings go forth. There is a time of year when it is the practice that troops go forth, when the land is full of growth and the horses find produce in the field to eat.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 11:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְהִ֣י׀and it was

    vayhiH19613559 times

  • לְעֵ֣תto [the] time of

    leetH6256296 times

  • הָעֶ֗רֶבthe evening

    haerevH6153134 times

  • וַיָּ֨קָםand he arose

    vaiyakomH6965628 times

  • דָּוִ֜דDavid

    davidH1732999 times

  • מֵעַ֤לfrom on

    mealH59215755 times

  • מִשְׁכָּבוֹ֙bed his

    mishkavoH490446 times

  • וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ֙and he walked about

    vaiyithalekhH19801546 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • גַּ֣ג[the] roof of

    gagH140630 times

  • בֵּית־[the] house of

    beit-H10042046 times

  • הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH44282525 times

  • וַיַּ֥רְאand he saw

    vaiyar'H72001300 times

  • אִשָּׁ֛הa woman

    ʾishahH802781 times

  • רֹחֶ֖צֶתbathing

    rochetzetH736472 times

  • מֵעַ֣לfrom on

    mealH59215755 times

  • הַגָּ֑גthe roof

    hagagH140630 times

  • וְהָ֣אִשָּׁ֔הand the woman

    vehaishahH802781 times

  • טוֹבַ֥ת[was] good of

    tovatH2896538 times

  • מַרְאֶ֖הappearance

    marehH4758103 times

  • מְאֹֽד׃very

    meodH3966300 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 119:37

    Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 2:16

      For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Job 31:1

      “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Proverbs 4:25

      Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.

    • Isaiah 33:15

      He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

  • Through

    Job 31:1

    “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

    it leads to

    • James 1:14–15

      But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Proverbs 6:25

      Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 5:28–29

      But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

    • Psalms 119:37

      Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Apology for the Prophet David, Chapter 1; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 50 (51).1-2; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 3, Section 55; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 22.12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.