2 Samuel 13:11

13:11 As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, ¹  my sister!”

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. ²  13:2 But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ³  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 13:4-6

13:4 He asked Amnon, ⁴  “Why are you, the king’s son, ⁵  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. ⁶  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!” ⁷  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 17:25

17:25 Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married ⁸  Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.)

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 ⁹  from the day that Amnon ¹⁰  humiliated his sister Tamar.

[13:11]  ¹ tn Heb “lie with me” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “come and have sexual relations with me.”

[13:1]  ² 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.

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”

[13:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he said to him.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”

[13:5]  ⁵ 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.

[13:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!”

[17:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “come to.”

[13:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”

[13:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.