6 David then sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going.
8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go home and rest a while.” Uriah left, and David sent a present to his home.
9 But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards.
10 When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him, “You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home?”
11 Uriah answered, “The men of Israel and Judah are away at the war, and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By all that's sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!”
12 So David said, “Then stay here the rest of the day, and tomorrow I'll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.