14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah.
15 In the letter David wrote, “Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is worst and leave him there alone. Let him be killed in battle.”
16 Joab watched the city and saw where its strongest defenders were and put Uriah there.
17 When the men of the city came out to fight against Joab, some of David’s men were killed. And Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Then Joab sent David a complete account of the war.
19 Joab told the messenger, “Tell King David what happened in the war.
20 After you finish, the king may be angry and ask, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the city wall?