Now sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, born to Ahinoam the Jezreelite.

So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.”

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

Then Joab got up and came to Absalom’s house. He said to him, “Why did your servants set my portion of field on fire?”

The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us ¹  in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way ²  to the door of the city gate.

namely, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah all the way from Dan to Beer Sheba!”

So the Lord sent Nathan ¹  to David. When he came to David, ²  Nathan ³  said, ⁴  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven ¹  your sin. You are not going to die.

Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ¹  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” After bowing to Joab, the Cushite ran off.

Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him. ¹ 

Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”

But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick ¹  over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

When David’s friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him, ¹  “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

Absalom said to Hushai, “Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”

So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?”

Then Joab sent a full battle report to David. ¹ 

Absalom would then say to him, “Look, your claims are legitimate and appropriate. ¹  But there is no representative of the king who will listen to you.”

Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹  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.’”

Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ¹  blew the trumpet, and his men ²  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ³  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.