Amnon And Tamar

13 David had a son named Absalom. Absalom’s sister was named Tamar. Tamar was very beautiful. Another one of David’s sons, Amnon,* ²was in love with Tamar. Tamar was a virgin.* Amnon did not think he should do anything bad to her. But Amnon wanted her very much. Amnon thought about her so much that he made himself sick.* ³Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah. (Shimeah was David’s brother.) Jonadab was a very clever man. ⁴Jonadab said to Amnon, “Every day you look thinner and thinner! You are the king’s son! {You have plenty to eat, so why are you losing weight?} Tell me!” Amnon told Jonadab, “I love Tamar. But she is the sister of my half-brother Absalom.” ⁵Jonadab said to Amnon, “Go to bed. Act like you are sick. Then your father will come to see you. Tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in and give me food to eat. Let her make the food in front of me. Then I will see it, and eat it from her hand.’” ⁶So Amnon lay down in bed and acted like he was sick. King David came in to see Amnon. Amnon said to King David, “Please let my sister Tamar come in. Let her make two cakes for me while I watch. Then I can eat from her hands.” ⁷David sent messengers to Tamar’s house. The messengers told Tamar, “Go to your brother Amnon’s house and make some food for him.”

Tamar Makes Food for Amnon

⁸So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon. Amnon was in bed. Tamar took some dough, pressed it together with her hands, and cooked the cakes. She did this while Amnon watched. ⁹Then Tamar took the cakes out of the pan and set them out for Amnon. But Amnon refused to eat. Amnon said to his servants, “Get out of here. Leave me alone!” So all of his servants left the room.

Amnon Rapes Tamar

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom and feed me by hand.” So Tamar took the cakes she had made and went into her brother’s bedroom. ¹¹She started to feed Amnon, but he grabbed her hand. He said to her, “Sister, come and sleep with me.” ¹²Tamar said to Amnon, “No, brother! Don’t force me to do this! Don’t do this shameful thing! Terrible things like this should never be done in Israel! ¹³I would never get rid of my shame. And people would think that you are just a common criminal. Please, talk with the king. He will let you marry me.” ¹⁴But Amnon refused to listen to Tamar. He was stronger than Tamar. He forced her to have sexual relations with him. ¹⁵Then Amnon began to hate Tamar. Amnon hated her much more than he had loved her before. Amnon said to Tamar, “Get up and get out of here!” ¹⁶Tamar said to Amnon, “No! Don’t send me away like this. That would be even worse than what you did before!” But Amnon refused to listen to Tamar. ¹⁷Amnon called his servant and said, “Get this girl out of this room, now! And lock the door after her.” ¹⁸So Amnon’s servant led Tamar out of the room and locked the door after her. Tamar was wearing a long robe with many colors.* The king’s virgin daughters wore robes like this. ¹⁹Tamar tore her robe of many colors and put ashes on her head. Then she put her hand on her head and began crying.* ²⁰Then, Tamar’s brother Absalom said to her, “Have you been with your brother Amnon? Did he hurt you? Now, calm down sister. Amnon is your brother, {so we will take care of this}. Don’t let it upset you too much.” So Tamar did not say anything. She quietly went to live at Absalom’s house.* ²¹King David heard the news and became very angry. ²²Absalom began to hate Amnon. Absalom did not say one word, good or bad, to Amnon. Absalom hated Amnon because Amnon had raped his sister Tamar.

Absalom’s Revenge

²³Two years later, Absalom had some men come to Baal Hazor to cut the wool from his sheep. Absalom invited all of the king’s sons to come and watch. ²⁴Absalom went to the king and said, “I have some men coming to cut the wool from my sheep. Please come with your servants and watch.” ²⁵King David said to Absalom, “No, son. We will not all go. It will be too much trouble for you.” Absalom begged David to go. David did not go, but he did give his blessing. ²⁶Absalom said, “If you don’t want to go, then please let my brother Amnon go with me.” King David asked Absalom, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷Absalom kept begging David. Finally, David let Amnon and all of the king’s other sons go with Absalom.

Amnon Is Murdered

²⁸Then Absalom gave this command to his servants, “Watch Amnon. When he is drunk and feeling good from the wine, I will give you the command. You must attack Amnon and kill him. Don’t be afraid of being punished. After all, you will only be obeying my command. Now, be strong and brave.” ²⁹So Absalom’s young soldiers did what he said. They killed Amnon. But all of David’s other sons escaped. Each son got on his mule and escaped.

David Hears About Amnon’s Death

³⁰The king’s sons were still on their way into town. But King David got a message about what happened. But the message was, “Absalom has killed all of the king’s sons! Not one of the sons was left alive.” ³¹King David tore his clothes and lay on the ground.* All of David’s officers standing near him also tore their clothes. ³²But then David’s brother, Jonadab son of Shimeah, said, “Don’t think that all of the king’s sons were killed! Only Amnon is dead. Absalom has been planning this from the day that Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³My lord and king, don’t think that all of your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.” ³⁴Absalom ran away. There was a guard standing on the city wall. He saw many people coming from the other side of the hill. ³⁵So Jonadab said to King David, “Look, I was right! The king’s sons are coming.” ³⁶The king’s sons came in just after Jonadab said that. They were crying loudly. David and all of his officers began crying. They all cried very hard. ³⁷David cried for his son (Amnon) every day.

Absalom Escapes to Geshur

Absalom ran away to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur.* ³⁸After Absalom had run away to Geshur, he stayed there for three years. ³⁹King David was comforted after Amnon died, but he missed Absalom very much.

Amnon Amnon was half-brother to Absalom and Tamar. They all had David as their father, but Amnon had a different mother. See 2 Sam. 3:2,3. virgin A woman who has not had sexual relations with anyone. Amnon … sick Or, “Amnon thought up a plan to pretend he was sick.” many colors Or, “stripes.” Tamar tore … crying This was the way people showed how very sad and upset they were. Tamar … Absalom’s house Or, “Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a ruined woman.” tore his clothes … ground This showed that he was very sad and upset. Talmai … king of Geshur Talmai was Absalom’s grandfather. See 2 Sam. 3:3.

Joab Sends a Wise Woman to David

14 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that King David missed Absalom very much. ²So Joab sent {messengers} to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. Joab said to this wise woman, “Please pretend to be very sad. Put on clothes of sadness. Don’t dress up. Act like a woman who has been crying many days for someone that died. ³Go to the king and talk to him using these words {that I tell you}.” Then Joab told the wise woman what to say. ⁴Then the woman from Tekoa talked to the king. She bowed with her face to the ground. Then she said, “King, please help me!” ⁵King David said to her, “What’s your problem?” The woman said, “I am a widow. My husband is dead. ⁶I had two sons. They were out in the field fighting. There was no one to stop them. One son killed the other son. ⁷Now the whole family is against me. They said to me, ‘Bring us the son who killed his brother and we will kill him. Why? Because he killed his brother.’ My son is like the last spark of a fire. If they kill my son, then that fire will burn out and be finished. He is the only son left alive to get his father’s property. So my {dead} husband’s property will go to someone else and his name will be removed from the land.” ⁸Then the king said to the woman, “Go home. I will take care of things for you.” ⁹The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “Let the blame be on me, my lord and king! You and your kingdom are innocent.” ¹⁰King David said, “If someone is saying bad things to you, then bring that person to me. He won’t bother you again.” ¹¹The woman said, “Please, use the name of the Lord your God and swear (promise) that you will stop those people. They want to punish my son for murdering his brother. Swear that you won’t let them destroy my son.” David said, “As the Lord lives, {no one will hurt your son}. Not even one hair from your son’s head will fall to the ground.” ¹²The woman said, “My lord and king, please let me say something else to you.” The king said, “Speak.” ¹³Then the woman said, “Why have you planned these things against the people of God? Yes, when you say these things, you show you are guilty. Why? Because you have not brought back the son that you forced to leave home. ¹⁴We will all die some day. We will be like water that is spilled on the ground. No person can gather this water back from the ground. You know God forgives people. God made plans for people who are forced to run away for safety—God doesn’t force them to run away from him! ¹⁵My lord and king, I came to say these words to you. Why? Because the people made me afraid. I said to myself, ‘I will talk to the king. Maybe the king will help me. ¹⁶The king will listen to me and save me from the man who wants to kill me and my son. That man just wants to keep us from getting the things God gave us.’ ¹⁷I know that the words of my lord the king will give me rest, because you are like an angel from God. You know what is good and what is bad. And the Lord your God is with you.” ¹⁸King David answered the woman, “You must answer the question I will ask you.” The woman said, “My lord and king, please ask your question.” ¹⁹The king said, “Did Joab tell you to say all these things?” The woman answered, “As you live, my lord and king, you are right! Your officer Joab did tell me to say these things. ²⁰{Joab did these things} so that you would see things differently. My lord, you are as wise as God’s angel. You know everything that happens on earth.”

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

²¹The king said to Joab, “Look, I will do what I promised. Now please bring back the young man Absalom.” ²²Joab bowed with his face on the ground. He blessed King David, and said, “Today I know that you are pleased with me. I know because you have done what I asked.” ²³Then Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴But King David said, “Absalom can go back to his own house. He can’t come to see me.” So Absalom went back to his own house. Absalom could not go to see the king. ²⁵People really bragged about how good-looking Absalom was. No man in Israel was as handsome as Absalom. There was not a blemish on Absalom—from his head to his feet. ²⁶At the end of every year, Absalom cut the hair from his head and weighed it. The hair weighed about five pounds.* ²⁷Absalom had three sons and one daughter. This daughter’s name was Tamar. Tamar was a beautiful woman.

Absalom Forces Joab to Come See Him

²⁸Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two full years without being allowed to visit King David. ²⁹Absalom sent {messengers} to Joab. {These messengers asked Joab to} send Absalom to the king. But Joab would not come to Absalom. Absalom sent {a message} a second time. But Joab still refused to come. ³⁰Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to my field. He has barley growing in that field. Go burn the barley.” So Absalom’s servants went and started a fire in Joab’s field. ³¹Joab got up and came to Absalom’s house. Joab said to Absalom, “Why did your servants burn my field?” ³²Absalom said to Joab, “I sent a message to you. I asked you to come here. I wanted to send you to the king. I wanted you to ask him why he asked me to come home from Geshur. {I can’t see him, so} it would have been better for me to stay in Geshur. Now let me see the king. If I have sinned, then he can kill me!”

Absalom Visits King David

³³Then Joab came to the king and told him {what Absalom said}. The king called for Absalom. Absalom came to the king and bowed low on the ground before the king. The king kissed Absalom.

five pounds Literally, “200 shekels by the king’s weight.”