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So Amnon's attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king's virgin daughters wore.

Her brother Absalom said to her: "Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart." So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

But Absalom urged him, so he sent Amnon and the rest of the king's sons.

So Absalom's young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the rest of the king's sons got up, and each one fled on his mule.

So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."

So Jonadab said to the king, "Look, the king's sons have arrived! It is just as your servant said."

So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, "Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, 'Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!' So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband's name or posterity on the earth."

"Please," she replied, "may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!" "As surely as the LORD lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."

For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways so that the banished one may not remain estranged from Him.

So the king asked, "Is the hand of Joab behind all this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

But the king added, "He may return to his house, but he must not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the king.

And when he cut the hair of his head-he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy-he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.

Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come. So Absalom sent the second time, but Joab still would not come.

"Look," said Absalom, "I sent for you and said, 'Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.' So now, let me see the king's face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me."

So Joab went and told the king, and David summoned Absalom, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.

"Go in peace," said the king. So Absalom arose and went to Hebron.

While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom's following kept increasing.

So the king set out with all the people following him. He stopped at the last house,