For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions.
My sin is constantly before me.
4Against you, and you only, I have sinned,
and done that which is evil in your sight,
so you may be proved right when you speak,
and justified when you judge.
5Behold, I was born in iniquity.
My mother conceived me in sin.
6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.
You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all of my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within me.
11Don’t throw me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
Sinners will be converted to you.
14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.
My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15Lord, open my lips.
My mouth will declare your praise.
16For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.
You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
18Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.
Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
Bathsheba was originally the wife of Uriah and later became the wife of David and the mother of Solomon. While Uriah was away on military duty, David seduced Bathsheba. To cover up the ensuing pregnancy, David summoned Uriah from the battlefield, pretending to seek an update on the army's progress, and tried to persuade him to go home and sleep with Bathsheba. However, Uriah, adhering to ritual abstinence, refused. In desperation, David arranged for Uriah to be placed on the front lines, where he was killed. After Uriah's death, David married Bathsheba.
The prophet Nathan denounced this marriage and foretold the death of Bathsheba's child, which came to pass. Their second child, Solomon, was favored by God and eventually succeeded David as king instead of his older half-brother Adonijah. When Adonijah sought to marry Abishag the Shunammite, he asked Bathsheba to mediate the request to Solomon. Bathsheba conveyed the request, but Solomon denied it and executed Adonijah for his audacity. References: 2 Sam 11:2-12:25; 1 Kings 1:11-31; 2:13-25; 1 Chronicles 3:5; Ps 51.
Bathsheba does appear in the genealogy of Jesus but is not mentioned by name: "Matt 1:6 Jesse became the father of King David. David the king became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife." See the discussion in Women in the Genealogy of Jesus (1:3-6),