The Bible still enjoys great popularity as a pool of material for authors. Thiscould be understood as evidence for its valid topicality. Focusing on the multiple receptionsof biblical stories in literature, at the same time the view onto the biblical text itself issharpened. This essay wants to depict the interplay between a biblical text and its literal reception,using the example of the death letter motive. For this purpose the motive will beanalysed in the David, Batseba and Uriah-story (2 Sam 11) on the one hand and in threeselected drama texts (1871‒1911) on the other hand.