2 Samuel 11:5
in 2 Samuel 11And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
KJV
And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
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This verse in 2 Samuel 11
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd the woman conceived - A proof of the observation on 2Sa 11:4; as that is the time in which women are most apt to conceive.
This site's exposition
purified from her uncleanness
on 2 Samuel 11:4-5
David sends, takes her, and lies with her, and the narrator adds one clinical detail, that she was purified from her uncleanness. The note fixes the timing so plainly that a reader cannot mistake whose child follows, since Uriah has been at the siege of Rabbah and cannot be the father. She returns to her own house, and then sends word that she is with child. The whole sequence runs in short verbs with no comment, sight, taking, conceiving, and the silence is part of how the chapter accuses.
This site's exposition
the woman conceived and sent word to David
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the woman faced death, the penalty for adultery at Leviticus 20:10. Her word to David put her life in his hands. Clarke says she conceived at the time just after she purified herself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
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 Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the woman conceived,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the woman conceived, and sent and told David--Some immediate measures of concealing their sin were necessary, as well for the king's honor as for her safety, for death was the punishment of an adulteress (Le 20:10).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתַּ֖הַר | vatahar | and she conceived | H2029 → | |
| הָֽאִשָּׁ֑ה | haishah | the woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| וַתִּשְׁלַח֙ | vatishlach | and she sent | H7971 → | 845 times |
| וַתַּגֵּ֣ד | vataged | and she told | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לְדָוִ֔ד | ledavid | to David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| וַתֹּ֖אמֶר | vatomer | and she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הָרָ֥ה | harah | [am] pregnant | H2030 → | |
| אָנֹֽכִי׃ | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
וַתַּ֖הַרand she conceived
vataharH2029 →
הָֽאִשָּׁ֑הthe woman
haishahH802 →781 times
וַתִּשְׁלַח֙and she sent
vatishlachH7971 →845 times
וַתַּגֵּ֣דand she told
vatagedH5046 →370 times
לְדָוִ֔דto David
ledavidH1732 →999 times
וַתֹּ֖אמֶרand she said
vatomerH559 →5305 times
הָרָ֥ה[am] pregnant
harahH2030 →
אָנֹֽכִי׃I
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 22:22If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
it leads to
- Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- John 8:4–5
and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
- Ezekiel 23:45–47
But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.
- Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Ezekiel 16:38
And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.
- Leviticus 20:10
Through
Proverbs 6:34For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:4
Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
- Song of Solomon 8:6
Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest…
- Numbers 5:14
and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she…
- Proverbs 27:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 2 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Apology for the Prophet David, Chapter 1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).