IRA:
Wait here.
Lord Commander.
- Well?
- The king is not in his tent.
- Not in his tent?
IRA: No, sir.
Well, he must be somewhere.
Have you searched the camp?
Yes, sir. I have brought the aide
you assigned to him.
I think the man knows something.
That is the man, sir.
You were assigned
to attend the king?
- Yes, sir.
- Where did he go?
Sir, I...
I cannot tell you.
As your commander
I order you to tell me.
The king pledged me to silence.
Where is he?
He went with the scouting party.
Scouting party?
JOAB:
What scouting party?
Every night, sir, we send out small
patrols to test the walls of the city.
And tonight?
Tonight, the waterway
under the north wall.
A patrol of 20 men
under Captain Uriah.
- You let him go?
- I could not stop him, sir.
We had finished the dispatches.
The king stood in the mouth
of the tent as the patrol went by.
He looked after them...
...and suddenly he took up
a sword and followed them.
Take 100 of your best men
and go after them.
Sir.
IRA: To arms, men.
- King.
IRA:
Ira's hundred. To arms.
King of all Israel out there
in the darkness...
...exposing himself to the enemy...
...crawling on his belly
like a common soldier.
[MEN WHOOPING]
Attack.
[SHOUTING]
JOAB:
Sire, I am the commander of the army.
JOAB: My orders...
DAVID: Yes, I know.
We'll speak of it later.
Come in, Uriah.
I apologize for delaying your supper.
DAVID:
Sit down, Uriah.
Pour us some wine.
Sit down.
[DAVID GRUNTS]
Sire.
DAVID: Hmm?
JOAB: You are wounded.
JOAB: Let me call the physician.
- No, no, let it alone.
It's a long time
since I've shed any blood.
It's good to have proof
that it still runs in my veins.
Sit down, Joab.
[JOAB SIGHS]
We must decide on our strategy,
for Rabbah is well defended.
Unfortunately, there are no Joshuas
among us:::
...to command the walls to fall down.
DAVID:
What would you do, Uriah?
URIAH:
I can speak for them, sire.
Every man in the army
would be glad to die for David.
A thousand dead, perhaps two.
A thousand vineyards
and flocks left untended.
A thousand women
wailing on my doorstep.
You have a wife, Uriah?
- Yes, sire.
- She will come to my door in tears.
If I am unlucky.
No, it is a certainty.
In wartime,
the best are always the first to die.
Then her tears will be tears of pride.
You are young to know much of women
and too brave, whereas I'm a coward.
A coward, sire?
[CHUCKLES]
My men go into battle
singing an old song.
"Saul has slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands. "
That was years ago.
When I was captain of a hundred,
like yourself.
I was not the king.
You will serve me better
if you live, Uriah.
Come, Joab.
Remain seated.
Continue with your meal.
DAVID: I will return to Jerusalem
in the morning.
AMBASSADOR:
Oh, King of Judah and Israel, live forever.
The pharaoh of Egypt sends greetings
to his beloved cousin.
The pharaoh bids me...
...prostrate myself
before the great king...
...and to present this humble token
of Egypt's regard.
The king of Israel warms himself
in the sun of the pharaoh's regard.
My beloved cousin,
the pharaoh probably hopes...
...that I'll cut my throat with this.
8FLUNKY:
Nathan, the prophet of God.
May God walk with David.
It is his custom to walk with Nathan.
God looks with favor on you to bring
the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.
Excellent.
NATHAN: But as to your intention
of building a temple to receive the Ark...
...he has commanded me
to say this to you.
Thus speaks the Lord:
"Should my servant David
build me a house to dwell in.
For I have not dwelt in a house since
the day I brought the Israelites...
...up out of Egypt, even to this day,
but I have lived in a tent.
NATHAN:
Have I ever, in all these years...
...demanded that a temple
be built for me?
Now therefore I say to David:
'I took you from the pasture
from guarding your sheep...
...to make you shepherd over my people,
even over all Israel. '"
Yes, yes. I understand.
God sees no need of a temple,
is that it?
That is his word.
Very well.
I leave such decisions to you.
To God, sire.
Whatever you like.
You may take full charge...
...of the arrangements to bring
the Ark here from Baal, Judah.
My father...
...will you hear my petition?
Amnon, my son,
you need not beg for an audience.
You promised me, as the heir to Israel...
...all the vineyards north of the Mount of
Olives as far as the borders of Ephraim...
...yet you have given the large vineyard
on the Gibeon road to Absalom.
DAVID:
Did I?
Only last month you said it was mine,
yet Amnon claims it.
I demand only justice.
DAVID:
And what does Absalom demand?
Justice too.
Then, no matter how I decide,
I am unjust.
The vineyard belongs to Amnon.
Thank you, my father.
Come with me.
You must try to understand my problem.
Amnon is the heir. He's been anointed.
If it became known
that I favored you...
...it would weaken him
in the eyes of the people.
We both know he needs all
the strength we can give him.
We both know he is not fit to be heir.
That I cannot help.
You could anoint me in his place.
Even if I wanted to,
I am bound by the law.
With our people, the law is everything.
It is in their bones.
It's only one vineyard, Absalom.
I'll give you your choice
of my own holdings.
I want only what is mine.
Here. Take this.
It is worth 20 vineyards.
Michal.
I did not expect to see you here.
Does my presence displease the king?
Of course not.
You are always welcome.
If the sight of me is so welcome...
...why haven't you come
to my chamber since your return?
I have much on my mind.
Yet you found time
to greet your other wives.
I was the first and now I am the last.
If you had been with the others
I would have greeted you too.
You remain aloof by your own choice.
MICHAL: There was a time
when you thought well of my aloofness.
I make no objection to it now.
Do as you please.
How graciously...
...you give your royal approval.
And your sarcasm is wasted.
We both know that royalty is a fraud.
It was no fraud
when my father was king.
I have never denied that
Saul was every inch a king.
And his successor every inch a fraud.
I will not argue with that either.
Do you think that hanging his spear
on your wall...
...will make you royal?
- Michal, please.
I have messages to read.
Oh.
I understand.
I am dismissed.
The shepherd's son is dismissing
the daughter of Saul.
I am to go
and sit with the concubines.
They are my wives...
...and you are my wife.
Is that not enough?
Why did you marry me, David?
Why?
Because I loved you.
You lie.
You have never loved anyone
but yourself.
"David," meaning "beloved. "
- David, the beloved-of-David.
- Whatever you say...
My love was wasted.
You had no need of it.
Is your memory so short?
I had great need of it once.
I begged you on my knees,
but you deserted me.
You refused to follow me into exile.
You even dishonored your vows
and let your father marry you to another.
- Against my will.
- You can say so.
But I cannot help thinking that real
love would have fathered a stronger will.
Then why did you take me back?
You might have guessed.
Without Saul's daughter at my side...
...the northern tribes would not have
acknowledged me as king.
DAVID:
By taking you back...
...I made Israel one.
[SOBBING]
Michal...
...we're past the days of our passion...
...love or hatred or anguish,
even cruelty.
Why should we torture ourselves?
We have to go on living, Michal.
[FOOTSTEPS]
DAVID:
Abishai.
There is a house over there...
...under that big terebinth tree.
- You know it?
- Yes, sire.
- The house of Uriah the Hittite.
- Uriah the Hittite.
- He's a captain with the army.
- Yes, I know him.
Does he, by any chance,
have a sister?
No, sire. He has a wife.
A Hebrew woman of Benjamin
called Bathsheba.
Bathsheba.
During my visit to the army...
...this Uriah's gallantry was called
to my attention.
It's been in my mind to reward him.
Perhaps, in his absence,
his wife could accept the reward.
- I'll send for the woman in the morning.
- No. Send for her now.
She shall dine with me tonight.
Yes, sire.
DAVID:
You're not eating.
I dined earlier, sire.
It is my custom when I am alone.
As a soldier's wife,
you have good reason...
...to hate the king who keeps
your husband from your side.
The king does what he must.
His needs are the kingdom's.
Not all of them.
This wine is Phoenician.
I find it mellower than ours.
It has the blandness of the sea air.
Have you ever visited the coast?
No, sire.
I lived for several years
among the Philistines.
A cold people like their sea.
We Hebrews are of the desert.
We breathe its wind
and our blood runs hot with it.
Our emotions are fierce,
like the desert wind.
We worship our God fiercely...
...we love fiercely,
we feel sorrow fiercely...
...even the lesser sorrows,
like the absence of a loved one.
Has Uriah been away for long?
We have been married seven months.
Of this time,
we have been together six days.
A poor return on the hopes
your betrothal.
DAVID: You are generous indeed
not to hate me.
I had no hopes, sire.
I first saw Uriah on our wedding day...
...when my father brought me
to his house.
Then six days is the sum
total of your love?
Of our marriage, yes, sire.
One of the vanities of kings
is that they think virtue...
...can be rewarded with a bauble.
How God must laugh
at the spectacle of unvirtuous kings...
...hanging bits of rock
and metal on virtuous men.
That is for virtue.
Now you understand
why I sent for you.
My understanding is not necessary,
sire.
Why not?
You are the king.
Is that all?
Well, leave the king out of it.
Think if any man would be content
with such an answer.
What other answer can I give, sire?
You have sent for me
and made known to me your will.
What else is there for me to say?
In Egypt that would be enough.
There, the pharaoh has certain rights
he can command but I...
Even if I had the right I've never used
my power to take anything by force.
All that I have ever had
has been given to me.
Freely, without restraint.
Even Israel. I refused the throne
until every elder of every tribe...
...would come to me
and beg me to take it.
It's been a kind of pride.
My pride.
Never to force myself on anyone.
So I said nothing to you.
Until you told me
that there is no love in your marriage.
Yes, you told me that.
And so did Uriah.
DAVID:
His dream of glory is his wife in tears.
You better go.
Oh, no, keep that.
It's only a stone
but you lend it beauty.
Uriah's a fool.
When I looked on you
from my terrace tonight...
...I knew that every future moment
spent away from you...
...would be a moment lost.
Yet he's found only six days for you
in seven months.
The perfume of his beloved
is the stink of war.
Does he think a man was made
only for the agony of battle?
Does he call that manhood?
Has he no blood, no heart?
Now go.
And be thankful
that I am not the pharaoh.
At least I can console myself
with the thought that your modesty...
...matches your beauty.
Perhaps you would prefer
truth to modesty, sire.
Before you went away,
I used to watch you every evening...
...as you walked on your terrace...
...always at the same hour,
always alone.
- Today, I heard you had returned.
- Then you knew that I...
BATHSHEBA: That you would be
on your terrace tonight.
Yes.
I had heard that never had the king
found a woman to please him.
I dared to hope
that I might be that woman.
Why are you telling me this now?
Why not before?
Because first...
...I had to know
what was in your heart.
If the law of Moses is to be broken,
David...
...let us break it in full understanding
of what we want from each other.
No, please. I'm not finished.
There are women you could send for
and send away again.
I am not one of them.
What do you want?
To please you.
Have I not made it plain enough
that you please me?
I'll never send you away,
if that is what you want.
Never as long as I live.
No, David.
That is not all I want.
Think not of this one night...
...but of all the days
and all the nights to come.
Think if I can give you
what you need...
...for as long as you live...
...as your wife.
But you're not free.
If I were free?
A king is not supposed
to need anything.
Only a fool would suppose that.
Well, then...
...friendship.
I had a friend once,
but I destroyed him.
The others,
who call themselves friends, I...
I never see their eyes...
...only the tops of their heads
as they bow to me.
Their hands are extended to me...
...but palms upwards, for favors.
Even my own sons.
Will I see your eyes, Bathsheba?
You will see them.
And my hand will be in yours.
That much is easy, David.
I am only a man, Bathsheba.
I need someone to understand that.
I need the kind of understanding...
...that only one human being
can give to another.
I need someone to share my heart.
The man I watched from my window
is not the king...
...but a man whose heart
is well worth the sharing.
[BLEATING]
BATHSHEBA:
Oh, David.
[DAVID LAUGHS]
No, David. The boy, he'll see us.
No matter.
Shepherd boys learn early about life.
Did you, David?
Did I what?
Learn about life early.
Before I was 12...
...I knew almost everything
there was to know about life...
...and death.
At 12, I had killed wolves.
At 13, a man.
Tell me. Not about the killing.
Tell me about the boy you were.
It couldn't be of any interest to you.
A woman is interested in everything
about her man.
Particularly in what he was
before she knew him.
Well, there's not much to tell.
I was a shepherd
like thousands of others in Judah.
You slept out under the stars.
DAVID:
Mmm.
BATHSHEBA:
Did you dream, David?
What did you dream about?
[DAVID CHUCKLES]
Surely a man is entitled to the privacy
of his dreams.
- Then they were of women.
- Naturally.
A whole procession of them.
And every one of them
ravishingly beautiful.
I'm jealous of every one of them.
[SHEEP BLEATING]
[CLEARS THROAT]
Ah...
Uh, it's been a dry year.
The shepherds are driven early
to the wells.
Once, when I was a boy, we had a year
when even the wells went dry.
By midsummer we were slaughtering
sheep, saving only the ewe lambs.
That was the year
that I fought the wolves.
Tell me.
Well, they'd been made
desperate by hunger.
I fought them for eight hours
with my slingshot.
In the morning, six of them lay dead.
And you were only a boy.
[DAVID CHUCKLES]
Well, I was quite a hand
with the sling.
[BO Y HOOTING]
Here I'll show you.
DAVID:
May I try your sling?
That tree. Watch.
Very well,
if you think you can do better.
[THUDS]
Yes.
Well, I, uh... I lack practice.
David, did you really kill Goliath?
After seeing me with that sling,
how could you doubt me?
[BATHSHEBA LAUGHS]
Was he truly as big as they say?
Well, I will admit that he grows
a little bit bigger every year.
[LAMB BLEATING]
A new life.
[SHEEP BLEATING]
DAVID:
Oh, that's his mother.
She's caught in the brambles.
- I'll give you some help.
- Thank you, sir.
[GRUNTING]
Let's clear those hind feet.
No, use both hands.
Oh.
I'm an old soldier, sir.
Fought for the king.
- David?
SHEPHERD: Not him.
SHEPHERD:
But the king.
King Saul.
SHEPHERD:
It was in his last battle.
There.
At the Mount of Gilboa.
SHEPHERD:
It's peaceful now.
Good grazing for the flocks,
though we lack rain this year.
But that day it rained blood.
- Yes.
- I saw the king die.
Saw him fall on his sword
when he knew the battle was lost.
Tell me, did you...
...also see the king's son die?
- Jonathan.
- Yes, sir. I did.
You see that rock that juts out
from the face of the mountain?
SHEPHERD:
The big one, with the sun on it.
Prince Jonathan stood there...
...with a loyal friend
on each side of him.
He fought there the livelong day.
His friends went down
but still he fought against tens...
...then against hundreds
until they overwhelmed him.
Those Philistines...
...and their brass
and heathenish helmets.
Ah, it was a black day for Israel.
The king gone, Jonathan gone...
...none worthy to take their place.
Yet Israel found a king in David.
Saul was king.
SHEPHERD:
Jonathan should be king today.
[CLINK]
Here.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you kindly.
David.
Come.
It's getting late.
[HORSES WHINNYING
AND MEN SHOUTING]
[GRAVEL CRUNCHING
AND ARMOR CLATTERING]
[MAN SCREAMS]
Jonathan.
Jonathan!
[SOUNDS OF BATTLE STOP]
[WIND WHISTLING]
DAVID:
Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
...in the midst of the battle.
Oh, Jonathan.
Thou was slain...
...in thine high places.
I am distressed for thee,
my brother Jonathan.
Very pleasant has thou been unto me.
Thy love to me was wonderful.
Passing the love of women.
How have the mighty fallen.
And the weapons of war...
...perished.
[CHATTERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAVID:
Hyah!
DAVID:
Hyah.
Slow it up.
Greetings, Abishai.
I received your message.
Am I in time?
Yes, sire. Even now
the caravan approaches Jerusalem.
Look, Bathsheba.
The Ark of the Covenant.
A shrine that has traveled with our
people through all their wanderings.
I am bringing it here
to its proper home.
Get in, Abishai.
I'll go down to meet Nathan.
You'll take Bathsheba to her house.
I beg you.
[MOB SHOUTING]
PRISONER [CRYING]:
No.
No.
Mercy. I beg you. Mercy.
Mercy, I beg you.
It's for you to cast the first stone.
PRISONER:
Mercy!
[PRISONER GASPS]
Mercy.
[ROCKS CLATTERING]
An adulteress, sire. She betrayed
her husband in the arms of another.
Judged and condemned under the law.
Go. Take her home.
[ABISHAl SHOUTS]
[MUSIC STOPS]
- Sire.
- Nathan.
DAVID:
God's design is a strange one, Nathan.
Consider how this box of wood
has outlived the flesh that made it...
...and preserved it and venerated it.
A pity that it is mute and blind
and cannot tell us of our ancient dead.
Of Moses on the mountain top.
Of Miriam and Aaron.
Of Joshua at the walls of Jericho.
No, sire!
Do not tempt the thunderbolts
of the Lord.
His dwelling is not to be profaned
by unconsecrated hands.
To touch it is to die.
As you say, Nathan.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Ark!
The Ark of the Covenant has fallen!
He is dead.
Let all take heed and bear witness
to what they have seen...
...that the people may know
the will of God.
The time is not right
for the entrance into the city.
Unhitch the oxen.
NATHAN: Let a tabernacle be erected
on this spot.
Let the Ark remain here
outside the walls...
...until God has signified
the appeasement of his wrath.
BATHSHEBA:
David.
Bathsheba.
DAVID:
You shouldn't have come here.
BATHSHEBA:
I had no choice.
My news would not wait.
David...
...I bring you trouble.
Our secret is no longer a secret.
- Who has learned it?
- No one yet.
But soon all will know
who have eyes to see.
I'm sure now of what I have feared
this past week.
I am with child.
Beloved.
No need for tears.
You bring me only joy.
DAVID: What man would not be happy
to learn that his wife...
...will give him a child?
- I am not your wife.
- You are my only wife.
DAVID:
Please, beloved, do not be afraid.
BATHSHEBA:
I am not afraid.
Soon enough we must all go down
to Sheol.
My tears are for our child
who will never see the light.
Bathsheba, listen to me.
You will not die.
- The law says that I must.
- They would not dare. I am the king.
The Israelites have had kings
for less than 50 years.
BATHSHEBA: They have had
the law of Moses for hundreds.
I will give them their kingdom.
You and I will flee into Egypt.
BATHSHEBA:
No, David.
Your life is marked out
on a certain course.
Even you cannot change it
if it's God's design.
There is another answer.
Uriah.
Uriah is a soldier.
Soldiers die every day in battle
and not always by enemy hands.
No, David.
Even our love could not bear
the burden of such a crime.
The crime lies in the chance
that I was born a Hebrew.
In any other nation on earth,
Uriah's life would be forfeit.
It would be no less a crime.
If I sent for him,
told him everything...
We both know what he would say.
DAVID: Yes. Honor is everything,
charity nothing.
For the sake of honor,
blood must flow...
...lives must be ruined,
humanity denied.
I can see Uriah now,
hurrying to the gate...
...eager to be
the first to cast a stone.
ABISHAl:
Sire.
What is it, Abishai?
The orders for Joab, sire.
Yes.
Do not send it now.
I may want to add to the message.
Yes, sire.
DAVID:
There is another way.
Perhaps it will solve nothing...
...but at least it will gain us time.
If Uriah can be made to believe
that the child is his.
But he has been away almost a year.
DAVID:
I will send for him...
...to report on the campaign.
He will be here in Jerusalem
one night...
...perhaps two.
- You called me your wife.
DAVID: The law calls you his.
That is not worthy of you, David.
It tears my heart
to suggest such a thing.
But it is your life, beloved.
Your life.
It is shameful what you ask.
There is no shame too great...
...no act so vile
that I would not commit it...
...if it would save my love.
[CYMBALS RATTLING]
[CHATTERING]
It is late and our guest must be weary
from the road.
DAVID:
Come, Uriah.
Absalom, it is many days
since we have seen you at the palace.
I have been in Judah, sire,
tending to my vines.
And do you expect a good yield
from your vines?
I have no reason
to be dissatisfied, sire.
In such a bad year.
You're to be congratulated.
- I should like a word with you in private.
URIAH: I am at my king's service.
I will not keep you long.
You must be eager to go home
to your wife.
- You said the attack is planned.
- Yes, sire.
Joab's confident
it'll meet with success.
He promises you Rabbah
within a week, sire.
With your permission, I plan
to return to camp early tomorrow...
...so that I may lead
my hundred into the battle.
As you wish. Abishai will have
dispatches for you to carry.
But if you desire
to remain in Jerusalem longer...
My only desire is to serve my king.
Well, I might believe that,
but you have a wife.
My wife is nothing, sire,
beside my duty.
Sit down, Uriah.
They say she is very beautiful.
As women go.
A woman does not always share
her husband's devotion to duty.
Have you ever tried to think of things
from her point of view?
No, sire.
But supposing her wishes and yours
come into conflict?
A woman's wishes cannot conflict
with her husband's, sire.
- That is the law.
- The law.
The law can only control
what we do...
...not what we think.
What does your wife think, Uriah?
[CHORTLES]
I do not know, sire.
Is it possible that you believe
that she does not think or feel?
A woman is flesh and blood,
Uriah, like us.
Perhaps more so because we give her so
little to think of but matters of the flesh.
In all our history,
only a handful of women...
...have been permitted
to write their names beside the men.
Miriam, Deborah, Jael,
perhaps one or two more.
A woman's occupation
is her husband...
...and her life is her love.
But if her husband rejects her love,
if he puts another love before it...
...if he denies her the only meaning
that her life can have...
...is it not understandable
if she seeks a meaning for it elsewhere?
With another man?
- Yes.
- Lf she does, she breaks the law.
But if her husband feels pity for her...
...under the law,
he is the one who must condemn her.
Then it is doubly his duty to be sure
that the law is obeyed.
Would you condemn your own wife,
Uriah?
Bathsheba?
[LAUGHS]
That is not possible.
But if it were possible?
I would not hesitate to do my duty,
sire.
You would force her
to suffer the most horrible of deaths?
Let the mob drive her like a dog...
...through the streets
to the city gates?
Watch the cruel stones
strike her flesh, let...?
Yes, sire...
...if she had broken the law.
I've kept you too long from your bed.
You may go.
URIAH:
Sire...
...will you grant me a boon?
What is your wish?
When Abishai prepares
the dispatches...
...let him say this to Joab
in your name:
"Set Uriah in the forefront
of the hottest battle...
...that he may serve his king
to the utmost of his ability. "
I will consider it, Uriah.
My thanks, sire.
MICHAL:
You are up late, David.
DAVID:
So are you.
I thought I might be of comfort
to my husband.
It's a terrible thing
to know that your beloved...
...is in the arms of another.
Do not trouble to lie.
You see, I know your secret.
Yours and the lady Bathsheba's.
- You know nothing.
- The lady has servants.
Servants tell things to other servants
and they tell them to their mistresses.
So the daughter of Saul concocts
a fantasy from servants' gossip.
Bathsheba's condition is no fantasy.
And the child she carries is yours.
Oh, my husband, I guessed at once
why you had sent for Uriah.
Only David would have thought of it.
A clever trick.
- Worthy of the son of goatherds.
- Get out.
You cannot save Bathsheba now.
Your scheme has failed.
Uriah has not been to his house
all night.
Even now, he sleeps here in the palace
with the officers of your guard.
Sire, forgive me.
- I have slept late.
- I told you to go home.
I ask your pardon, sire.
I could not go to my wife.
Why not?
It's a matter of my own worthiness.
Perhaps you will
consider this foolish...
...but when Joab told me
I was to come to Jerusalem...
...I swore an oath on my sword.
URIAH: I swore that while the army
still slept in tents...
...while Rabbah still stood in defiance
of God's will...
...I would deny myself the comforts
and the pleasures of my own house.
URIAH:
I would keep myself clean for battle...
...as if for entering the tabernacle
of the Ark.
I am sorry if I have offended my king.
If the dispatches are ready, I will go.
You fool.
DAVID:
You stupid, blind fool.
Sire.
Dispatches for Joab, sire.
Dispatches.
Shall I give them to Uriah?
No.
No.
DAVID:
There is an additional order.
Set Uriah in the forefront
of the hottest battle.
It is his own wish, Abishai.
Even his own words.
Is that all?
No.
I will not add hypocrisy
to my other sins.
Even if Joab should understand
what I intend...
...I cannot ask him to share
the burden of my guilt.
Here is the order:
Set Uriah in the forefront
of the hottest battle...
...and retire from him
that he may be smitten and die.
- Yes.
- When it is finished...
...seal it and give it to Uriah.
Yes, sire.
Sire, we bring great news.
The walls of Rabbah
have been breached.
When we left, there was fighting
in the streets of the city.
Joab bids me urge you
to come to Rabbah with all speed...
...to receive the surrender
of your enemies.
And our dead?
Our losses have been heavy, sire.
Of the captains of a thousand:
Abimelech the son of Jurabiel,
and Heled the son of Ikkesh.
Of the captains of a hundred:
Hezro the Carmelite...
...Igal the son of Zelek...
...Ittai the son of Ribai...
...Abiel the Arbathite...
...Eliam the son of Reuben...
...Shammah the Harodite...
...Uriah the Hittite...
...Bani the Gadite...
...Azmaveth the son of Eli...
...and many more are wounded.
How did Uriah the Hittite die?
IRA:
There was a mistake in the orders, sire.
Uriah advanced too far into the breach
and was cut off from his command.
When you've eaten and rested, prepare
to return to Rabbah, I'll ride with you.
Sire.
Sire, the lady Bathsheba's servant
is waiting for your answer.
Go to Bathsheba.
Tell her that Uriah is dead.
Tell her to prepare for our marriage...
...at the end of her month
of mourning.
Will you not go to her yourself?
No.
The hand of God
is heavy on his people.
Thus speaks the Lord:
"I will withhold the rains...
...and cause the fields
and vineyards to dry up...
...the flocks to grow thin.
I will waste the land with drought,
the people with famine.
Yea, I will smite Israel
for its sin against me.
Woe unto Israel.
Woe unto my people who have sinned. "
What sin, Nathan?
The Lord has not vouchsafed to me
its nature...
...but evidently the sin is great...
...thus to incur his wrath.
Does it take so much
to make him angry?
That soldier who laid hands on the Ark,
he was only trying to be helpful.
It is not for us to question
the ways of the Lord.
I question nothing.
Yet the sun was hot that day.
The man had been drinking wine.
All were excited
when the Ark began to fall.
Is it not possible that the man might
have died naturally from other causes?
All causes are of God.
We've had droughts before, Nathan.
I am buying grain
in Egypt and Philistia.
There will be enough until the rains
come, if I have to empty my treasuries.
DAVID:
Now, what more can I do?
DAVID: Is there anything else?
- Yes, sire.
NATHAN: I have sat in the gate and
listened to the people talk of the king.
What do they say?
They say that David
is no longer David.
They say that he neglects his duty,
that he is often away from the city.
When he is here,
he has turned his face from his people.
Petitioners are sent away
from his door without a hearing.
In hard times,
it's natural that some will complain.
Complain, yes, sire.
But not talk openly
of overthrowing the king.
Explain yourself.
The hearts of the Israelites
are turning after your son.
Well, it's difficult to imagine
poor Amnon winning anyone's heart.
Not Amnon.
Your second son, Absalom.
- The boy?
- Every day, he is at the gate...
...seeking those you have turned away.
To these he says:
"Oh, that I were made
a judge in the land...
...that all may come to me
and receive justice. "
Confine yourself to the affairs of God.
- Leave the affairs of the kingdom to me.
ABISHAl: Sire.
Oh, Abishai. I have orders for Joab.
The king forgets that he, too,
is a servant of the Lord.
The priests are waiting.
I have been waiting
these days and weeks.
Waiting for a word from the one
who called himself my lover.
For a sign that all of his promises
were not lies.
- Beloved, I...
- Do not call me that, the word is a lie.
If you still loved me,
you would not have avoided me.
You would not have left me in darkness,
alone with my fears.
- You know that I was called to Rabbah...
- It is a week since your return.
They are waiting.
Let them wait.
There will be no wedding.
I will not try to justify my behavior.
But even if I have earned
your hatred...
...you know why
the wedding must take place.
I could more easily find courage
to face the stones of the mob.
If our marriage is no more than an act
of charity on your part, then say so.
If I have lost your love, tell me,
and I will trouble you no longer.
I am not a beggar, David.
Beloved...
...it is I who am the beggar.
I beg your patience.
If you love me, say no more.
Take my love on faith.
It is yours and will always be yours.
Come, my wife.
[BLEATING]
[KNOCKING AND MEN SHOUTING]
[BABY MURMURS]
[INAUDIBLE WHISPERING]
My lady.
The king should be called
if he would again see his son alive.
Call him.
Sire.
The lady Bathsheba
asks your presence.
The child is better?
No, sire.
The physicians can do no more.
They say he will die.
I know.
I have known it these seven days.
I have lain in sackcloth on the earth.
I have fasted. I have tried to pray.
My prayers were only words...
...going out into emptiness.
They fell on no ears but my own.
[BATHSHEBA WEEPING]
Sire.
You told me to inform you,
the ambassador from Egypt has arrived.
Shall I send him away?
No, I will go down.
The time for grieving has past.
Will it bring my son back
if I mourn for him?
No, I shall go to him.
But he will not return to me.
The heart of the pharaoh bleeds for
his cousin and for the people of Israel.
But alas, the pharaoh's
storehouses are empty.
There is barely enough grain
to feed Egypt.
The heart of a pharaoh cannot bleed
for it is bloodless.
The storehouses of Egypt are full.
By sacred Osiris, I swear to you,
I speak truth.
Dog of Egypt, you lie,
and your master lies.
It is only what I expected.
Charity is not to be found
among those...
...who make gods of vultures
and hyenas.
- Now go.
FLUNKY: Nathan, the prophet of God.
[CHATTERING]
I come on a matter of justice, sire.
Hear and render judgment.
You may speak.
There were two men,
one rich and one poor.
The rich man owned
great flocks and herds.
But the poor man had naught
but one ewe lamb.
He reared it and it grew up with him
and his children.
It ate of his food and drank of his cup.
It was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a wayfarer
to the rich man asking meat.
But the rich man did not take
of his own flocks to feed his guest.
Instead, he took the poor man's
one ewe lamb and slew it...
...and prepared it for the wayfarer.
What is your verdict upon this man?
He shall restore the lamb seven-fold.
NATHAN:
The lamb is dead, it cannot be restored.
Then the man deserves to die
because he had no pity.
You are the man.
You have made me pronounce
sentence upon myself.
Very well.
It is done.
Then there is no appeal.
It is the will of God,
and I accept it. Gladly.
NATHAN: It is not his will
that you should die, David.
Worthy or unworthy,
you are his anointed.
Through Samuel,
he chose you to lead his people.
Your labors in his behalf
are still unfinished.
But you cannot escape
the punishment of the Lord.
I have not escaped it.
My son is dead.
NATHAN:
His justice is still unsatisfied.
You've paid for your adultery,
but you have also killed.
You've taken up the sword and slain
your fellow creature for your desire.
NATHAN: Now, therefore the sword
shall never depart from your house.
You shall know the hatred
and ingratitude of your own flesh.
Brother shall turn against brother
and son against father.
The history of David's house
shall be a history written in blood.
You tell me nothing new.
- I am content.
- Even so the tally of the Lord is not paid.
The woman is being denounced.
She also must expiate her sin.
She has lost her child.
- Is that not enough?
- Bathsheba has sinned...
...and she must render payment
according to the law of Moses.
[CROWD SHOUTING]
Uriah's death was my act
and mine alone.
NATHAN:
She was a faithless wife.
Faithless only because I made her so.
Could she deny the king?
When I called her, could she refuse
to obey my commands?
No. She would never lie for herself...
...and I will not lie for her.
But even if she sinned...
...she has done no evil.
She came to me
with love and tenderness.
She lifted up my heart.
She has brought no evil with her.
NATHAN:
She has brought adultery and murder.
She has brought
the drought and the famine.
She has brought
the wrath of God upon Israel.
[CROWD CHEERING
AND SHOUTING]
They know the law
and so does David.
Yes, I know the law.
Where are the accusers?
Under the law,
they must cast the first stone.
Where are those who will say that
I knew Bathsheba before our marriage?
DAVID:
Who will dare to say it to my face?
So there are no accusers.
You have none.
Michal.
I cannot find it in my heart
to blame you for what you do.
But you, Absalom...
:::my son:
Have I given you cause to hate me so?
Go, David, and bring Bathsheba here
to face her judges.
You have made her a queen.
It is not fitting that she should be
dragged to judgment by the people.
[CROWD SHOUTING]
My lady.
Abishai, go to the stable
and get horses.
Bring them to the gate
in the garden wall.
- Yes, sire.
- Not that way.
They'll be watching.
Go by way of the terrace.
We'll be out
before they know we've gone.
ABISHAl:
Sire.
The palace is surrounded.
DAVID: Call the guards. Surely
my own bodyguard can be trusted.
Go. Go.
BATHSHEBA:
No, David.
We cannot fight
against the will of God.
A God who punishes the guiltless?
I am not without guilt, David.
Now I know how Uriah died.
I think I really knew
before our marriage.
Knew and put it from my mind,
I lacked the courage to face the truth.
My guilt is as great as yours.
Greater.
Because I let you bear
the burden of it alone.
- I killed him.
- I wished him dead.
God sees into our hearts, David.
[SHOUTING]
BATHSHEBA:
I am ready.
But I cannot let them take you.
I cannot let you die.
David.
DAVID:
Yes, love.
In all our time together,
you have never played for me.
Something from your boyhood...
...when you were a shepherd.
[PLAYING HARP]
The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea.
Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death...
...I will fear no evil
for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff...
...they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me...
...in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil...
...my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy...
...shall follow me
all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord...
...forever.
Goodness...
...and mercy.
When I wrote those words...
...I believed in such a God.
I was only an ignorant shepherd boy.
There was no one to teach me
about God.
So I taught myself.
I saw him...
...in the hills...
...in the trees...
...in the miracle of the birth of lambs.
I felt his mercy when the wolves
had fled and my flock was safe.
When spring broke the grip
of snow and ice.
When the cool wind blew
after the heat of the day...
...I saw his splendor...
...in the flowers blazing
on the hillsides...
...and the stars burning in the sky.
And knew his hand...
...in everything.
Then I wandered from him.
And when I tried to find him again...
...I had lost him.
DAVID:
Somewhere in Saul's court...
...or when I roamed the desert
in exile...
...or in the camp of the Philistines.
His image paled
in the lights of the cities...
...and his voice was drowned
in the quarreling and scheming...
...of the ambitious...
...and the mighty.
And now Nathan
has found him for me.
Not the God of my boyhood days...
...but a God without mercy.
A God who thinks only of his justice.
So you must die.
DAVID: As the soldier died when he tried
to save the Ark from falling.
He put his hands
on the Ark like this:
You shall not die.
You shall not die.
ABISHAl:
These are all who are willing, sire.
They will be enough.
Take your stand at this door.
If anyone tries to enter, cut him down.
ABISHAl:
You two at the right of the door.
Two at the left.
Two at the wall.
You two at the stairs.
And you two at the gate here.
NATHAN: Where is the woman?
DAVID: She is not coming.
[SHOUTING]
Silence!
He is the king.
- You have heard the word of God.
- I have heard the word of Nathan.
You have told me
that God demands justice.
That I will believe.
I will not believe he would condemn
a helpless woman for another's crime.
- Where are you going?
- To the tabernacle.
If God is what you say he is,
if this is truly his justice...
...then let him speak for himself.
Will you go to him in anger?
He has shown me nothing but anger.
He has turned his face from me.
It was David
who first turned his face from God.
Once there was a David
who knew how to pray...
...who sought nothing for himself
at the hands of God...
...who found his strength
in faith alone.
If that David still lives,
his God will not deny him mercy.
[CROWD MURMURING]
[SHOUTING]
[WIND WHISTLING]
DAVID:
O God.
Thou God of my early youth...
...hear my prayer.
Let thine eyes...
...which alone see clearly...
...fall upon thy worthless servant.
In all things...
...have I failed thee.
My life is a waste.
My crimes are many...
...and terrible.
To my sons, I have bequeathed
the evil that is in my blood.
I have led my people
into misery and want.
I have used thee...
...with ingratitude...
...and betrayed thy trust.
I have been a faithless...
...shepherd.
I am dust in the sight of thine eyes.
I am less than the meanest creature...
...crawling on the earth.
And, yet, O God...
...I am also thy creation.
Take not...
...thy Holy Spirit from me.
Thy spirit...
...which abode with me...
...in the wilderness.
I ask nothing for myself, O God.
By my sins...
...I have put myself beyond the compass
of thy forgiveness.
But lift thine hand from thy people...
...who suffer for my crimes.
Forgive them the sin
that is not theirs...
...but mine.
Let the land thou
gavest their fathers...
...flow once more...
...with thine abundance.
And let Bathsheba live...
...to praise thy name...
...and testify to thy mercy.
Show her the loving kindness
of thy heart.
Cleanse her from sin...
...and let thy punishment...
...fall on thy servant
who has earned it.
Look not on the sinner...
...who comes before thee...
...but on the boy he was...
...who loved thee...
...and who would have died for thee.
Make my heart as his.
Let the boy live again...
...in his innocence.
Grant him thy mercy...
...and take this David's life.
[THUNDER CRASHING]
BO Y:
David?
David?
[BLEATING]
David?
David?
Your father bids you
come to his house.
I am to stay with the sheep.
The prophet is there,
the prophet Samuel himself.
It is said that he comes
to choose a king over Israel.
MAN:
Eliab.
Abinadab.
Shammah.
SAMUEL:
The Lord has not chosen one of these.
Any father would be proud
of such sons.
You do well to feel pride, Jesse.
But the Lord does not see
as man sees:::
...for man looks
on the outward appearance...
...but the Lord looks on the heart.
Who is this?
JESSE: My youngest son, David,
who tends the sheep.
But he's only a boy, a dreamer,
a singer of songs.
Come hither, David.
The Lord has chosen.
Honor him, David.
Walk in his light...
...and you shall serve him...
...as few are permitted to serve.
[THUNDER CRASHING]
MAN:
Where is your champion, Hebrews?
Who will stand forth and face me?
It is the giant of Gath, sire...
...challenging us to send a champion
against him and so decide the battle.
Sire, the men have heard his challenge
these 40 dawns.
AHITHOPHEL: They cower
like whipped dogs at his voice.
Unless, he is met,
and soon, our cause is lost.
And is there no one in the ranks of Israel
who dares to meet this man?
AHITHOPHEL: Sire, if Goliath were
only a man, any one of us would go.
But he's like no man born of woman.
His height is six cubits and a span,
and his spear is like a weaver's beam.
They are dogs, indeed,
to run before one Philistine.
Is there no courage in Israel?
AHITHOPHEL:
Sire, courage alone is not enough.
No arrow can pierce the giant's armor.
No spear can thrust
beneath the reach of his arms.
He casts his spear
a hundred long paces.
We call ourselves
"the chosen of the Lord. "
Are we to let the enemies of God
take Israel because we lack a champion?
DAVID:
Sire, I will meet Goliath.
Who is it that speaks? Come forward.
- David, my armorbearer.
- I will meet him, sire.
AHITHOPHEL:
Sire.
Samuel calls this boy
the Lord's anointed.
If you let him to face the giant...
...Samuel's prophecy can be proved...
[WHISPERING]
... or disproved.
David, you may meet Goliath.
JONATHAN:
No, David. Father, he is my friend.
SAUL:
Silence, Jonathan.
SAUL: Go, David.
JONATHAN: With God, David.
GOLIATH:
Is Goliath a dog...
...that you send a boy to meet him?
Come closer, little one. Come closer.
Come closer, little one.
My father, let me go down
in David's place.
No, Jonathan.
Let the Philistine prove the folly
of Samuel's prophecy.
[CHEERING]
David, David, get up.
[SHOUTING]
[CHEERING]
[THUNDER CRASHING]
[RAINDROPS PATTERING]
No man can ever hope to know
the real nature of God.
But he has given us
a glimpse of his face.