²Amnon’s sister Tamar was a virgin. It seemed impossible for him to do what he wanted to do with her. But he wanted her so much it almost made him sick.

³Amnon had a friend named Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very clever man. ⁴He asked Amnon, “You are the king’s son, aren’t you? So why do you look so worn out every morning? Won’t you tell me?”

Amnon answered, “I’m in love with Tamar. She’s the sister of my brother Absalom.”

⁵“Go to bed,” Jonadab said. “Pretend to be sick. Your father will come to see you. When he does, tell him, ‘I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food right here in front of me where I can watch her. Then she can feed it to me.’ ”

⁶So Amnon went to bed. He pretended to be sick. The king came to see him. Amnon said to him, “I would like my sister Tamar to come here. I want to watch her make some special bread. Then she can feed it to me.”

⁷David sent a message to Tamar at the palace. It said, “Go to your brother Amnon’s house. Prepare some food for him.”

⁸So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon. He was lying in bed. She got some dough and mixed it. She shaped the bread right there in front of him. And she baked it. ⁹Then she took the bread out of the pan and served it to him. But he refused to eat it.

“Send everyone out of here,” Amnon said. So everyone left him.

¹⁰Then he said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom. Please feed it to me.”

So Tamar picked up the bread she had prepared. She brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. ¹¹She took it to him so he could eat it.

But he grabbed hold of her. He said, “My sister, come and have sex with me.”

¹²“Don’t do this, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me to have sex with you. An evil thing like that should never be done in Israel! Don’t do it! ¹³What about me? How could I ever get rid of my shame? And what about you? You would be as foolish as any evil person in Israel. Please speak to the king. He won’t keep me from getting married to you.”

¹⁴But Amnon refused to listen to her. He was stronger than she was. So he raped her.

¹⁵Then Amnon was filled with deep hatred for Tamar. In fact, he hated her now more than he had loved her before. He said to her, “Get up! Get out!”

¹⁶“No!” she said to him. “Don’t send me away. That would be worse than what you have already done to me.”

But he refused to listen to her. ¹⁷He sent for his personal servant. He said, “Get this woman out of here. Lock the door behind her.”

¹⁸So his servant threw her out. Then he locked the door behind her.

Tamar was wearing a beautiful robe. It was the kind of robe the virgin daughters of the king wore. ¹⁹She put ashes on her head. She tore the beautiful robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away. She was sobbing out loud as she went.

²⁰When her brother Absalom saw her, he spoke to her. He said, “Has Amnon, that brother of yours, forced you to have sex with him? My sister, don’t let it upset you. Don’t let it bother you. He’s your brother.”

After that, Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house. She was very lonely.

²¹King David heard about everything that had happened. So he became very angry.

²²Absalom never said a word of any kind to Amnon. He hated Amnon because he had brought shame on his sister Tamar.

Absalom Kills Amnon

²³Two years later, Absalom invited all of the king’s sons to come to Baal Hazor. It was near the border of Ephraim. The workers who clipped the wool off Absalom’s sheep were there.

²⁴Absalom went to the king. He said, “I’ve had my workers come to clip the wool. Will you and your officials please join me?”

²⁵“No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us shouldn’t go. It would be too much trouble for you.” Although Absalom begged him, the king still refused to go. But he gave Absalom his blessing.

²⁶Then Absalom said, “If you won’t come, please let my brother Amnon come with us.”

The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷But Absalom begged him. So the king sent Amnon with him. He also sent the rest of his sons.

²⁸Absalom ordered his men, “Listen! When Amnon has had too much wine to drink, I’ll say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down.’ When I do, kill him. Don’t be afraid. I’ve given you an order, haven’t I? Be strong and brave.”

²⁹So Absalom’s men killed Amnon, just as Absalom had ordered. Then all of the king’s sons got on their mules and rode away.

³⁰While they were on their way, a report came to David. It said, “Absalom has struck down all of your sons. Not one of them is left alive.”

³¹The king stood up and tore his clothes. Then he lay down on the ground. All of his servants stood near him. They had also torn their clothes.

³²Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up. He said, “You shouldn’t think that all of the princes have been killed. The only one who is dead is Amnon. Absalom had planned to kill him ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³You are my king and master. You shouldn’t be concerned about this report. It’s not true that all of your sons are dead. The only one who is dead is Amnon.”

³⁴While all of that was taking place, Absalom ran away.

The man on guard duty at Jerusalem looked up. He saw many people coming on the road west of him. They were coming down the side of the hill. He went and spoke to the king. He said, “I see men coming down the road from Horonaim. They are coming down the side of the hill.”

³⁵Jonadab said to the king, “See, your sons are coming. It has happened just as I said it would.”

³⁶As he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in. They were sobbing out loud. The king and all of his servants were also sobbing very bitterly.

³⁷When Absalom ran away, he went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud. Talmai was king of Geshur. King David sobbed over his son every day.

³⁸So Absalom ran away and went to Geshur. He stayed there for three years.

³⁹After some time the king got over his sorrow because of Amnon’s death. Then he longed to go to Absalom.

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

14Joab, the son of Zeruiah, knew that the king longed to see Absalom. ²So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to have a wise woman brought back from there. Joab said to her, “Pretend you are filled with sadness. Put on black clothes. Don’t use any makeup. Act like a woman who has spent many days sobbing over someone who has died. ³Then go to the king. Give him the message I’m about to give you.” And Joab told her what to say.

⁴The woman from Tekoa went to the king. She bowed down with her face toward the ground. She did it to show him respect. She said, “King David, please help me!”

⁵The king asked her, “What’s bothering you?”

She said, “I’m a widow. My husband is dead. ⁶I had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field. No one was there to separate them. One of my sons struck the other one down and killed him.

⁷“Now my whole family group has risen up against me. They say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother down. Then we can put him to death for killing his brother. That will also get rid of the one who will receive the family property.’ They want to kill the only living son I have left, just as someone would put out a burning coal. That would leave my husband without any son on the face of the earth to carry on his name.”

⁸The king said to the woman, “Go home. I’ll give an order to make sure you are taken care of.”

⁹But the woman from Tekoa said to him, “You are my king and master. No matter what you do, I and my family will take the blame for it. You and your royal family won’t be guilty of doing anything wrong.”

¹⁰The king replied, “If people give you any trouble, bring them to me. They won’t bother you again.”

¹¹She said, “Please pray to the Lord your God. Pray that he will keep our nearest male relative from killing my other son. Then my son won’t be destroyed.”

“You can be sure that the Lord lives,” the king said. “And you can be just as sure that not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”

¹²Then the woman said, “King David, please let me say something else to you.”

“Go ahead,” he replied.

¹³The woman said, “You are the king. So why have you done something that brings so much harm on God’s people? When you do that, you hand down a sentence against yourself. You won’t let the son you drove away come back. ¹⁴All of us must die. We are like water that is spilled on the ground. It can’t be put back into the jar. But God doesn’t take life away. Instead, he finds a way to bring back anyone who was driven away from him.

¹⁵“King David, I’ve come here to say this to you now. I’ve done it because people have made me afraid. I thought, ‘I’ll go and speak to the king. Perhaps he’ll do what I’m asking. ¹⁶Perhaps he’ll agree to save me from the man who is trying to cut off me and my son from the property God gave us.’

¹⁷“So now I’m saying, ‘May what you have told me bring me peace and rest. You are like an angel of God. You know what is good and what is evil. May the Lord your God be with you.’ ”

¹⁸Then the king said to the woman, “I’m going to ask you a question. I want you to tell me the truth.”

“Please ask me anything you want to,” the woman said.

¹⁹The king asked, “Joab told you to say all of this, didn’t he?”

The woman answered, “What you have told me is exactly right. And that’s just as sure as you are alive. It’s true that Joab directed me to do this. He told me everything he wanted me to say. ²⁰He did it to change the way things now are. You are as wise as an angel of God. You know everything that happens in the land.”

²¹Later the king said to Joab, “All right. I’ll do what you want. Go. Bring the young man Absalom back.”

²²Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground. He did it to honor the king. And he asked God to bless the king. He said, “You are my king and master. Today I know that you are pleased with me. You have…

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