14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.
19 And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,
20 then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?