17And the men of the town went out and had a fight with Joab: and a number of David's men came to their death in the fight, and with them Uriah the Hittite.
18Then Joab sent David news of everything which had taken place in the war:
19And he gave orders to the man who took the news, saying, After you have given the king all the news about the war,
20If the king is angry and says, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall?
21Who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall? Then say to him, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is among the dead.
22So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all the news which Joab had sent him to give; then David was angry with Joab and said, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall? who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall?
23And the man said to David, Truly the men got the better of us, and came out against us into the open country, but we sent them back to the very doors of the town.
