2 Samuel 13

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyeehaveha ('he loved her') uses the standard root a-h-v, the same word used for God's love of Israel and Jacob's love for Rachel. The narrator deploys it without commentary, letting the story itself expose whether this feeling deserves the name. Tamar's name means 'date palm' — a symbol of beauty, fertility, and uprightness. Amnon (Amnon, from aman, 'faithful, reliable') carries an ironic name given what he is about to do. The phrase achot yafah ('beautiful sister') introduces the two elements that drive the plot: kinship and beauty.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyetser (from tsarar, 'to be narrow, constricted, distressed') conveys both emotional anguish and physical constriction — Amnon feels trapped by his own desire. The phrase lehitchallot ('to make himself sick') is in the hithpael (reflexive) stem, which some commentators read as genuine psychosomatic illness and others as indicating that the sickness was self-induced or exaggerated — foreshadowing the feigned illness in verse 6. The word betulah ('virgin') indicates both sexual status and social restriction: virgins of the royal house lived in supervised quarters (cf. verse 18). The verb yippale ('it was extraordinary, impossible') from pala is usually positive (Psalm 139:6) but here describes Amnon's frustrated assessment of a logistical barrier.

Translator Notes

1. The word re'a ('friend, companion') indicates a close personal relationship — Jonadab is not a casual acquaintance but a confidant. The adjective chakham ('wise, shrewd, clever') is the same word used for Solomon's wisdom (1 Kings 3:12) and for the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14:2). The narrator uses it without irony markers, forcing the reader to supply the moral judgment as the story unfolds. Shimeah (also spelled Shammah in 1 Samuel 16:9) is David's brother, making Jonadab and Amnon first cousins.

Translator Notes

1. The adjective dal ('thin, lean, gaunt') describes visible physical wasting — Amnon's obsession is consuming him bodily. The repetition babboqer babboqer ('morning by morning') suggests Jonadab has been observing Amnon's decline over an extended period. Amnon's self-description uses the participle ohev ('loving, in love') — present and ongoing, not a past event. His identification of Tamar through Absalom (achot Avshalom achi, 'sister of Absalom my brother') rather than simply as 'my sister' may indicate he is emphasizing the half-sibling distinction, or it may be the narrator's way of placing Absalom's name in the scene from the very beginning.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vehitchal ('make yourself sick, feign illness') is hithpael — reflexive/pretend — confirming this is deliberate performance, not genuine sickness. The verb tavrenni ('let her feed me, give me food') from barah ('to eat, take a meal') is intimate language — it implies personal feeding, not institutional meal service. The word biryah ('food, something prepared') comes from the same root and emphasizes food made with personal care. The phrase le'einai ('before my eyes, in my sight') and miyyaddah ('from her hand') create a chain of sensory intimacy: sight and touch, watching and receiving. Jonadab constructs a scenario that is entirely plausible as sick-care and entirely functional as a trap.

Translator Notes

1. The verb telavvev ('let her shape heart-cakes') from the root l-v-v ('heart') is unique to this passage. The levivot ('heart-shaped cakes' or 'heart-cakes') are formed from the word for heart (lev), suggesting either heart-shaped pastries or food meant to comfort the heart of an invalid. The intimate, almost tender terminology creates a surface meaning (a sister nursing a sick brother with hand-shaped comfort food) that conceals the predatory reality beneath. Amnon follows Jonadab's script almost verbatim but adapts the specific food — where Jonadab said biryah ('prepared food'), Amnon specifies levivot, adding an element of tenderness and domesticity. David, hearing nothing suspicious in a brother's request for his sister's cooking, complies.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyishlach ('he sent') is the same verb used when David 'sent' for Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11:4 — the verbal echo is likely deliberate. David addresses Tamar with lekhee na ('please go') — polite but carrying the weight of a royal command. The phrase achikh ('your brother') reinforces the family setting that makes the request seem safe. David has no reason for suspicion: a sick son asking for his sister's cooking is entirely normal in this cultural context.

Translator Notes

1. The narrative pace slows to show every step of Tamar's labor: she takes the dough (habatseq), kneads it (vattalosh), shapes the heart-cakes (vattelavvev), and cooks them (vattevashel). The detailed, step-by-step description creates a domestic scene of care and normalcy that makes the coming violence more shocking by contrast. Amnon lies watching (le'einav, 'before his eyes') as Tamar performs an act of sisterly devotion that he is using as a mechanism to get her alone. Every moment of her labor is a moment of his calculation.

Translator Notes

1. The word masret ('pan, baking dish') is a rare term, appearing only here and possibly related to the root s-r-t. The verb vattisoq ('she poured out') suggests the cakes were turned out of the pan onto a serving dish. Amnon's refusal to eat (vayema'en le'ekhol) signals the shift from pretense to predation — the food has served its purpose by getting Tamar into the house. The phrase kol ish ('every man, everyone') indicates there were servants present, meaning Amnon needed privacy to act.

Translator Notes

1. The cheder ('inner room, bedroom, private chamber') is the most enclosed space in the house — it is the room where one sleeps and where outsiders do not enter. The phrase ve'evreh miyyadeykh ('so I can eat from your hand') maintains the fiction of an invalid needing hand-feeding. The narrator notes that Tamar took the levivot 'which she had made' (asher asatah), emphasizing her labor and care — she has invested herself in this act of service.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyachazzeq (hiphil of chazaq, 'be strong') in this context means to seize, overpower, physically restrain. The same root appears in Deuteronomy 22:25 for a man who 'seizes' (hecheziq) a woman and lies with her — the legal term for rape. The command shikhebi immi ('lie with me') is the same phrase Potiphar's wife used with Joseph (Genesis 39:7, 12), creating a deliberate narrative echo. The word achoti ('my sister') in this context is grotesque — it acknowledges the kinship bond in the very act of violating it.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb te'annenni (piel of innah, 'to afflict, humble, violate') is the standard legal term for sexual violation in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 34:2, Deuteronomy 22:24, 29, Judges 19:24, 20:5). It encompasses forced intercourse, degradation of status, and social ruin. The phrase lo ye'aseh khen beYisra'el ('this is not done in Israel') appeals to communal moral standards — Israel has an identity as a people who do not commit certain acts. The word nevalah ('outrage, sacrilege, moral disgrace') is the term used for the rape at Gibeah (Judges 19:23-24, 20:6) and for Shechem's rape of Dinah (Genesis 34:7). It describes an act that is not merely sinful but that violates the moral fabric of the community.

Translator Notes

1. The word cherpah ('disgrace, reproach, shame') describes the social consequences Tamar will bear — it is the permanent stigma attached to a violated woman. The phrase anah olikh et cherpati ('where would I take my disgrace?') is a question without an answer: there is nowhere to go with this shame. The word nevalim ('fools') here carries the same moral weight as nevalah in verse 12 — these are not intellectually foolish people but morally debased ones. The final clause ki lo yimna'eni mimmekka ('for he will not withhold me from you') is the interpretive crux: does Tamar genuinely believe David would approve a half-sibling marriage, or is she saying anything to prevent the imminent assault? The Levitical prohibition (Leviticus 18:9) would seem to rule out such a marriage, but the patriarchal precedent and the early monarchic period's relationship to codified law remains debated.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase velo avah lishmo'a beqolah ('he refused to hear her voice') uses avah ('to be willing') — this is a choice, not an inability. The verb vayyechezaq ('he overpowered') from chazaq appears in the legal formulation of Deuteronomy 22:25 for rape. The verb vaye'anneha ('he violated her') is the piel of innah — the intensive form, indicating completed, thoroughgoing violation. The final clause vayyishkav otah ('he lay with her') uses the accusative marker et/otah rather than the preposition im ('with'), which some scholars see as indicating coercion rather than mutuality — he lay her rather than he lay with her.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyisna'eha ('he hated her') uses the same intensive grammatical pattern as vayyeehaveha ('he loved her') in verse 1, creating a deliberate structural mirror. The noun sin'ah ('hatred') and the noun ahavah ('love') are placed in direct comparison using the comparative min ('greater than'). The phrase qumi lekhi ('get up, go') is curt to the point of cruelty — two feminine singular imperatives with no softening particles, no name, no reason given. The immediate post-coital reversal from obsessive desire to visceral hatred is one of the Hebrew Bible's most psychologically acute observations about the nature of lust versus love.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase al odot hara'ah hagedolah hazzot me'acheret ('on account of this great evil, worse than the other') identifies two separate wrongs: the rape and the expulsion. The Hebrew construction me'acheret ('than the other') treats them as two distinct acts that can be compared. The verb leshallecheni ('to send me away, to expel me') is the piel of shalach, which in marital contexts is the verb for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1). Tamar may be invoking the legal framework: sending her away is functionally a rejection that leaves her without recourse. The repeated phrase velo avah lishmo'a ('he refused to listen') creates a structural bracket around the assault — refusal to hear in verse 14, refusal to hear in verse 16.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase et zo't ('this one') is dehumanizing — zo't is a feminine demonstrative pronoun ('this'), used here as a noun. Amnon avoids Tamar's name entirely. The verb shillechu ('send out, expel') is a plural imperative directed at the servant(s). The command un'ol haddellet ('and bolt the door') uses the verb na'al, which means to lock or bolt — the door is to be barred after her, preventing return. The servant is called na'aro meshareto ('his young man, his attendant'), indicating a personal servant who would have been aware of everything happening in the house.

Translator Notes

1. The ketonet passim ('ornamented tunic, multi-colored robe') is the same garment Jacob gave Joseph (Genesis 37:3). The exact meaning of passim is debated — proposals include 'many-colored,' 'long-sleeved,' 'reaching to the palms and soles,' or 'ornamented with applique.' Its rarity (only two occurrences) creates a powerful intertextual link between Joseph and Tamar — both are favored children of their father, both are stripped of their distinguishing garment in an act of familial violence. The explanatory note ki khen tilbashna ('for thus were dressed') is a narratorial aside informing the reader of court custom, indicating this detail was worth preserving because the garment signifies what Tamar is about to lose.

Translator Notes

1. The ash (efer) on the head is a mourning custom (Joshua 7:6, Job 2:12, Esther 4:1). Tearing the ketonet passim destroys the garment that identified her as a virgin princess — the ripping is both grief and truth-telling: the status the garment represented no longer exists. The hand on the head (yad al rosh) is attested in ancient Near Eastern iconography as a gesture of mourning and lament. The phrase halokh veza'aqah ('going and crying out') uses the infinitive absolute construction to indicate continuous action — she did not stop screaming as she walked. The verb za'aq ('to cry out, scream') is stronger than bakah ('to weep') — it is the cry of the oppressed demanding justice (Exodus 2:23, Judges 4:3).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The name Aminon (with the he- prefix ha'Aminon) appears to be a diminutive or contemptuous form of Amnon — possibly reducing his name to something small or mocking. Absalom's command hacharishi ('be silent, keep quiet') is the hiphil imperative of charash ('be silent, be still'). In context, it may be protective (do not make a public accusation that could backfire) or strategic (silence preserves my ability to act later without warning). The phrase al tashiti et libbekh ('do not set your heart upon') means 'do not fixate on this' — it does not mean 'do not care' but rather 'do not act rashly.' The word shomemah ('desolate') is the same adjective used for the desolation of the land in Leviticus 26:34 and for destroyed cities in Ezekiel — it describes the total emptying of vitality and joy.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase vayyichar lo me'od ('he was very angry') uses the same verb charah that described David's anger at Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8) and at Nathan's parable (2 Samuel 12:5). David's anger is consistent; his follow-through is not. The Septuagint (LXX) adds: 'but he did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son, because he loved him, because he was his firstborn.' This addition appears in 4QSama (Qumran) and may reflect an original Hebrew reading lost from the Masoretic tradition. If original, it explains David's inaction as favoritism toward his firstborn; if secondary, it represents an early interpretive attempt to explain the MT's stark silence.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase lemera ve'ad tov ('from evil to good') is a merism — a figure of speech that names two extremes to indicate the entire range between them. Absalom speaks neither hostility nor courtesy, which means he speaks nothing at all. The verb sane ('to hate') is the same root as sin'ah in verse 15 but in a completely different emotional register: Amnon's hatred was post-coital revulsion; Absalom's is moral judgment hardened into intention. The verb innah ('violated') appears here for the third time (after vv. 12 and 14), and its repetition functions as a refrain of accusation that the narrative will not let the reader forget.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase lishenatayim yamim ('at two years of days') marks a precise time gap — the delay is deliberate and important to the narrative. Sheep-shearing (gozezim) was a festive occasion involving feasting and wine (cf. Genesis 38:12-13, 1 Samuel 25:2-8). Baal-hazor ('lord of Hazor') is a location near Ephraim — in Absalom's territorial sphere, giving him control of the environment. The invitation to kol benei hammelekh ('all the king's sons') is broad enough to include Amnon without signaling that he is the target.

Translator Notes

1. Absalom uses the language of courtly deference: avdekha ('your servant') for himself and hammelekh ('the king') for David. The initial invitation includes David himself — this may be genuine or strategic. If David had come, Absalom could not have killed Amnon without killing the king's bodyguard-protected presence. By inviting David first, Absalom sets up the negotiation that will follow: when David declines, Absalom can ask for a specific substitute.

Translator Notes

1. David's refusal uses the verb nikhbad ('be heavy, burdensome') — a royal retinue visiting a sheep-shearing would strain Absalom's resources. The verb vayyiprots bo ('he pressed him, urged him') shows Absalom's persistence, which both maintains the appearance of sincerity and sets up the transition to the request for Amnon specifically. David's blessing (vayevarkhehu) authorizes the celebration without David's personal attendance — it gives Absalom cover of royal approval for the event.

Translator Notes

1. Absalom's request for Amnon specifically — Amnon achi ('Amnon my brother') — is the critical pivot. By naming Amnon after David's refusal, Absalom makes it seem like a consolation request: if the king will not come, at least send the crown prince as representative. David's counter-question lammah yelekh immakh ('why should he go with you?') suggests a flicker of suspicion or at least surprise at the specificity. The question goes unanswered in the text — Absalom's response in verse 27 simply consists of continued pressing.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyiprots ('he pressed, urged') is the same verb used in verse 25 — Absalom applies the same insistent pressure that wore David down before. The result: David sends (vayyishlach) both Amnon specifically and all the king's sons with him. Once again, David's word of royal authority sends a family member into danger — just as he sent Tamar to Amnon's house in verse 7. The pattern of David's authority being the instrument through which his children are harmed continues.

Translator Notes

1. The timing — ketov lev Amnon bayyayin ('when Amnon's heart is merry with wine') — ensures the target is intoxicated and unable to react or defend himself. The phrase hakku et Amnon ('strike Amnon') uses the verb nakah ('to strike, smite'), the standard verb for a killing blow. The phrase benei chayil ('sons of valor') is a military designation for brave warriors (1 Samuel 14:52, 2 Samuel 2:7). Absalom's speech has the structure of a pre-battle exhortation: identification of the target, the signal for attack, reassurance against fear, invocation of authority, and a call to courage.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ka'asher tsivvah Avshalom ('as Absalom had commanded') emphasizes that the servants acted under orders — the responsibility is Absalom's. The response of the other princes is instant panic: vayyaqumu ('they rose'), vayyirkevu ('they mounted'), vayyanusu ('they fled') — three rapid verbs describing a stampede. The mule (pered/pirdah) was the riding animal of royalty in this period (cf. 2 Samuel 18:9, 1 Kings 1:33). Each prince having his own mule indicates these are wealthy royal sons who came prepared with their own transport.

Translator Notes

1. The shemu'ah ('report, news, rumor') is a distorted version of events — fear and distance have inflated a targeted assassination into a massacre. The phrase velo notar mehem echad ('not one of them remains') is the language of total annihilation. This false report creates maximum terror for David, who believes all his sons are dead. The narrative technique — showing the reader the truth (one death) while showing David a lie (total slaughter) — creates dramatic irony and intensifies the emotional chaos.

Translator Notes

1. The tearing of garments (qeri'at begadim) is the primary ritual expression of grief and mourning in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 37:34, Job 1:20, 2 Samuel 1:11). David lying on the ground (vayyishkav artsah) recalls his prostration during the illness of Bathsheba's child (2 Samuel 12:16). The servants standing (nitsavim) with torn garments creates a formal court mourning scene. The participial construction indicates a sustained state: they remain standing in mourning posture.

Translator Notes

1. The verb innah appears for the fourth and final time in this chapter (anoto, 'his violating'), maintaining the verbal thread that ties the entire narrative together. Jonadab's knowledge that the assassination was 'determined' (sumah) from the day of the rape implies either that Absalom confided in him or that Jonadab's 'wisdom' allowed him to read Absalom's silence correctly. Either way, his failure to warn anyone makes him complicit in both the rape and the murder. The phrase al pi Avshalom ('by the mouth/decree of Absalom') uses the idiom al pi ('by the mouth of') which normally introduces authoritative commands or divine decrees.

Translator Notes

1. Jonadab repeats his correction — ki im Amnon levaddo met ('for only Amnon alone is dead') — reinforcing the limited scope of the killing. His phrase al yasem adoni hammelekh el libbo ('let my lord the king not set upon his heart') echoes Absalom's instruction to Tamar in verse 20 (al tashiti et libbekh). Both use the idiom of 'setting on the heart' to mean 'do not fixate on this.' The repetition of Amnon levaddo met ('Amnon alone is dead') provides cold comfort — one son is still dead, murdered by another son.

Translator Notes

1. The narrative splits into simultaneous tracks: Absalom's flight and the arrival of the surviving princes. The na'ar hatsofeh ('the young watchman') is a sentinel positioned on the walls or a high point, whose job is to report approaching groups. The phrase am rav ('many people, a large crowd') describes the approaching party — the surviving princes and their retinues. The phrase miderekh acharav mitsad hahar ('by the road behind him from the hillside') gives geographical detail that locates the approaching group on the road from Baal-hazor.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase kidvar avdekha ken hayah ('according to the word of your servant, so it was') is a formula of prophetic confirmation, often used when a prediction comes true. Jonadab applies this language to himself with an audacity that borders on the prophetic — he speaks as though he is interpreting events rather than having helped cause them. His identification as avdekha ('your servant') maintains the posture of courtly deference while asserting his superior understanding of the situation.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase vayyis'u qolam vayyivku ('they raised their voices and wept') describes loud, vocal mourning — the arriving princes are wailing as they enter. The phrase bekhi gadol me'od ('very great weeping') describes the intensity of the communal grief. The king, his servants, and his surviving sons all weep together, creating a scene of collective mourning that engulfs the entire court. The simultaneity of the princes' arrival and the eruption of grief is captured by the temporal construction kekhalloto ledabber ('as he finished speaking') — Jonadab's calm analysis is immediately drowned by the sound of weeping.

Translator Notes

1. Geshur was an Aramean city-state east of the Jordan, allied with David through marriage (2 Samuel 3:3). Talmai (Talmay) is called ben Ammihud ('son of Ammihud') here but ben Ammihur in some manuscripts — a minor textual variant. The verb vayyit'abbel ('he mourned') is the hitpael of aval, indicating sustained, demonstrative mourning. The phrase kol hayyamim ('all the days') means continuously, without cessation. The ambiguity of 'his son' (beno) — does David mourn Amnon the dead or Absalom the exiled? — is a characteristic Hebraic device that allows both readings to stand simultaneously.

Translator Notes

1. The repetition of Absalom's flight (already stated in v37) creates a narrative bracket: verse 37 told where he went and why; verse 38 tells how long he stayed. Three years (shalosh shanim) is the duration of Absalom's exile before Joab engineers his return (2 Samuel 14). The verb vayyehi sham ('he was there') emphasizes static residence — Absalom is waiting, not wandering. Three years in Geshur gives him time to plan, to build resentment, and to sharpen the political instincts that will drive his rebellion in chapters 15-18.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vattekhel (from kalah, 'to be finished, consumed, spent') is debated: some read it as 'longed' (from a different root or nuance of kalah), others as 'ceased' or 'was restrained.' The Septuagint reads 'the spirit of the king ceased to go out after Absalom' — meaning David stopped pursuing Absalom, which is the opposite reading. The Masoretic pointing supports 'was consumed/exhausted with longing,' but the ambiguity affects the chapter's emotional conclusion significantly. The verb nicham (niphal of nacham, 'to be comforted, to relent from grief') indicates that the initial intensity of David's mourning for Amnon has subsided — time has done its work. The final phrase ki met ('because he was dead') is the chapter's last word: death. It is the word that hangs over everything — over Amnon who is dead, over Tamar who is desolate as death, over the family that Nathan said the sword would never leave.