2 Samuel 13:10

13:10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the cakes into the bedroom; then I will eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes that she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom.

2 Samuel 13:1-2

The Rape of Tamar

13:1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. In the course of time David’s son Amnon fell madly in love with her. ¹  13:2 But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ²  over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

2 Samuel 13:7-8

13:7 So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.” 13:8 So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched, ³  and baked them. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 13:19

13:19 Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.

2 Samuel 14:27

14:27 Absalom had ⁵  three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a very attractive woman. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 13:4-6

13:4 He asked Amnon, ⁷  “Why are you, the king’s son, ⁸  so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.” 13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ⁹  When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

13:6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.”

2 Samuel 13:20

13:20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take it so seriously!” ¹⁰  Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.

2 Samuel 13:22

13:22 But Absalom said nothing to Amnon, either bad or good, yet Absalom hated Amnon because he had humiliated his sister Tamar.

2 Samuel 13:32

13:32 Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about ¹¹  from the day that Amnon ¹²  humiliated his sister Tamar.

¹ tn Heb “Amnon the son of David loved her.” The following verse indicates the extreme nature of his infatuation, so the translation uses “madly in love” here.

¹ tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”

¹ tn Heb “in his sight.”

² tn Heb “the cakes.”

¹ tn Heb “and there were born.”

² tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And she became a wife to Rehoboam the son of Solomon and bore to him Abia.”

¹ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

² tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”

¹ tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

¹ tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!”

¹ tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.