UST 2 SAM Chapter 13

◄ 2 SAM 13 ► ║ ═ ©

13 After this, the trouble that Nathan had announced began in David’s family. David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. Another of David’s sons, Amnon, wanted to have sexual relations with her. 2 He wanted so badly to have sexual relations with his half-sister Tamar that he felt sick. But because she was an unmarried young woman, she lived separately from the men in the palace, so Amnon thought he would never have a relationship with her.

3 But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab knew well how to deceive people in order to get what he wanted.

4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “Even though you are the king’s son, every day when I see you, you seem depressed. Please tell me why.” Amnon replied, “I feel sexual desire toward Tamar, the sister of my half-brother Absalom.”

5 Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend that you are sick. Your father will come to visit you. Tell him that you do not feel like eating anything, but you might eat if someone prepared food while you were watching so you could see what the person was doing and if the person then served you the food directly. Suggest that you half-sister Tamar could come and do this for you.”

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended that he was sick. When King David came to visit him, Amnon told him, “I might eat something if someone made a couple of pancakes for me while I was watching and then served them to me directly. Please allow my half-sister Tamar to come and do that for me.”

7 So David sent a message to Tamar in the palace. He told her, “Amnon your half-brother is sick, so please go to his house and prepare some food for him so that he will eat.” 8 So Tamar went to Amnon’s house. He was lying on a couch there. While he was watching her, she took some dough and kneaded it, then she formed it into some pancakes and baked them. 9 She brought the pan and served the pancakes from it onto a plate in front of Amnon. But he refused to eat them. He said to everyone else who was present, “All the rest of you, leave me!” So they all left.

10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “I need to lie in bed, so bring the food into my bedroom and serve it to me there.” So Tamar brought the pancakes that she had made into his bedroom. 11 But when she brought them close for him to eat them, he grabbed her and told her, “I want to have sex with you!”

12 She replied, “No, do not force me to have sex with you! Israelites should not do things like that. You are my half-brother! So do not commit this crime against me! 13 If you did, I would always have shame afterwards. And as for you, you would be acting like the Israelite men who do wrong things without regard for God. So I plead with you, ask the king to allow you to marry me. I am sure he would agree to let me become your wife.” 14 But he refused to do what she said he should do. He was stronger than she was, so he forcibly had sexual relations with her.

15 Afterwards, Amnon felt great hatred toward her. He hated her much more than he had desired her. He told her, “Now I want you to leave!”

16 But she told him, “No! You should not send me away. That would be very wrong. It would be worse than what you just did to me!” But again he refused to do what she said he should do.

17 Instead, he summoned his personal servant and told him, “Take this woman outside, away from me, and lock the door so that she cannot come in again!” 18 So the servant put her outside and locked the door so that she could not come in again. Now Tamar was wearing a long robe. That was the clothing that the unmarried daughters of the king customarily wore at that time.

19 But to show how distressed she was, Tamar put ashes on her head. She tore the long robe that she was wearing. She also placed her hand on her head. As she went away, she kept screaming.

20 Her brother Absalom saw her and said to her, “Did your half-brother Amnon force you to have sex with him? Please, my sister, do not tell anyone. He is your half-brother. Do not let this bother you.” Then Tamar went to live in Absalom’s house, and she never got married.

21 When King David learned what had happened, it made him very angry but he did not do anything about it. 22 Absalom hated Amnon because he had forcibly had sexual relations with his sister Tamar. But he did not say anything to Amnon about this, because he did not want Amnon to suspect that he wanted to kill him.

23 However, two years later, Absalom hired men to cut the wool off his sheep at Baal Hazor, where he lived. That place is near the tribal land of Ephraim. He was going to host a celebration when they finished cutting the wool off the sheep, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come to the celebration. 24 Absalom went to King David and said to him, “Sir, I have workers shearing my sheep and we are going to celebrate when they finish. Please come with your officials to celebrate with us!”

25 But the king replied, “No, my son, it would not be good for all of us to come. That would be too great an expense for you.” Absalom kept inviting him, but King David finally refused. Instead, he said that he hoped that God would make them happy while they celebrated.

26 Then Absalom said, “If you will not come, please send my half-brother Amnon the crown prince with us as your representative.” But the king replied, “You do not need to invite him to the celebration either.”

27 But Absalom insisted, and finally King David agreed to let Amnon go with Absalom. He sent all of his other sons with him.

28 At the celebration, Absalom told his servants, “Pay attention to these instructions. Once Amnon has become a bit drunk from the wine, I will shout out, ‘Kill Amnon!’ When I say that, you must kill him. Do not be afraid. You will be doing this only because I told you to do it. So be very brave and do it!” 29 So Absalom’s servants did what Absalom told them to do. They killed Amnon. When the rest of David’s sons saw what had happened, they left the celebration. They got onto their mules and escaped by riding away fast.

30 While they were still on their way home, someone who had fled when the servants first killed Amnon rushed back and reported incorrectly to David, “Absalom has killed all of your other sons! None of them is still alive!” 31 When King David heard this, he got up from his throne, tore his clothes, and then lay down on the ground to show how sad he was. His officials also tore their clothes, and they stood around him to show their sympathy.

32 But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “Your Majesty, please do not believe that Absalom has killed all your sons. I am sure that only Amnon is dead. I say this because Absalom has wanted to kill him ever since the day that Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 So, your Majesty, please do not let the thought that all your sons may be dead cause you great distress. I am sure that only Amnon is dead.”

34 (Absalom had fled from the celebration after his servants killed Amnon.) One of the city guards looked out and saw a large crowd of people coming around from behind a hill on the road from the west and reported this to King David.

35 Jonadab said to the king, “You see, what I told you is true. Your other sons are alive, and they are coming here now.”

36 And as soon as he said that, David’s sons came in. They were all crying loudly, and David and all his officials also cried very much.

37 Absalom fled for safety to the kingdom of Geshur, where his grandfather Talmai son of Ammihud was the king. King David mourned continually for his son Amnon. 38 When Absalom fled to the kingdom of Geshur, he stayed there for three years. 39 King David had intended to attack Absalom to capture him and punish him for killing Amnon. But by the end of those three years, David was not grieving as severely that Amnon had died, so he no longer planned to attack Absalom.

2 SAM C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24

UST 2 SAM Chapter 13

UST 2 SAM Chapter 13