2 Samuel 13:1–22

Amnon and Tamar

¹Now it was after this that ^aAbsalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was ^bTamar, and ^cAmnon the son of David loved her.

²Amnon was so frustrated because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it seemed ¹hard to Amnon to do anything to her.

³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of ^1aShimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.

⁴He said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Then Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”

⁵Jonadab then said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat from her hand.’ ”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and ^amake me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷Then David sent to the house for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.”

⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was lying down. And she took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.

⁹She took the pan and ¹dished them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “^aHave everyone go out from me.” So everyone went out from him.

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the ¹bedroom, that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon.

¹¹When she brought them to him to eat, he ^atook hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”

¹²But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for ^asuch a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this ^bdisgraceful thing!

¹³“As for me, where could I ¹get rid of my reproach? And as for you, you will be like one of the ²fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for ^ahe will not withhold me from you.”

¹⁴However, he would not listen to ¹her; since he was stronger than she, he ^aviolated her and lay with her.

¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!”

¹⁶But she said to him, “No, because this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you have done to me!” Yet he would not listen to her.

¹⁷Then he called his young man who attended him and said, “Now throw this woman out of my presence, and lock the door behind her.”

¹⁸Now she had on ^aa ¹long-sleeved garment; for in this manner the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then his attendant took her out and locked the door behind her.

^19aTamar put ¹ashes on her head and ^btore her ²long-sleeved garment which was on her; and ^cshe put her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.

²⁰Then Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now keep silent, my sister, he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained and was desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.

²¹Now when King David heard of all these matters, he was very angry.

²²But Absalom did not speak to Amnon ^aeither good or bad; for ^bAbsalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.