¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. ¹⁷And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸Joab sent to David a full account of the battle ¹⁹and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle, ²⁰if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? ²¹Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ ²²So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. ²³The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.” ²⁵Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”