2 Samuel 11:23
ESV
The messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.
NIV
The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.
NASB
The messenger said to David, 'The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate.
CSB
The messenger reported to David, "The men gained the advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we counterattacked right up to the entrance of the city gate.
NLT
The enemy came out against us in the open fields,' he said. 'And as we chased them back to the city gate,
KJV
And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
NKJV
And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate.
What does 2 Samuel 11:23 mean?
Joab is an excellent military commander, even when he's not sure what's going on. While laying siege to the Ammonites who have holed up in a walled city, several Israelite soldiers get too close to the wall, and Ammonite archers take them out. Joab must send a messenger to Jerusalem to let David know. He anticipates that David will think of Gideon's son Abimelech who stood too close to a wall and took a millstone to the head. Joab doesn't want David to get upset with him or his messenger, so he tells the messenger that if David mentions Abimelech, he is to tell David that Uriah is among the dead (2 Samuel 11:16–21).The messenger doesn't know that David ordered Joab to send Uriah to fight where the Ammonites were strongest and then pull back so he'd be killed. Joab doesn't know that David wanted Uriah dead because David had gotten Uriah's wife pregnant while the army fought the Ammonites (2 Samuel 11:1–15).
The messenger does know it's best not to let David get angry. He quickly explains what happened, that the Ammonite archers shot from the wall, and includes that Uriah has been killed before David can respond (2 Samuel 11:24).
David's response is probably not what the messenger expected. Rather philosophically, David says to tell Joab, "Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another" (2 Samuel 11:25). In modern speech, David is casually saying, "Oh, well. That's what happens in war. People die."
David can afford to be gracious. He's now free to marry Bathsheba and hide the fact that he committed adultery against Uriah.
