Study Desk

So now, gather the rest of the people together and camp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city myself and it be named after me."

So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it.

And Amnon was so distressed because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin. So it was hard in Amnon's sight to do anything to her.

And he said to him, "O son of the king, why are you so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?" Then Amnon said to him, "I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom."

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and the king came to see him, and Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand."

So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, and he was lying down. And she took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.

And she took the pan and dished them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, "Have everyone go out from me." So everyone went out from him.

Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food into the bedroom, that I may eat from your hand." So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon.

As for me, where could I get rid of my reproach? And as for you, you will be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. So now, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."

But he was not willing to listen to her voice. Now he was stronger than she, so he violated her and lay with her.

So Absalom her brother said to her, "Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now keep silent, my sister, he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart." So Tamar remained and was desolate in her brother Absalom's house.

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

So now, do not let my lord the king take the report to heart, saying, ‘all the king's sons have died,' for only Amnon has died."

And Jonadab said to the king, "Behold, the king's sons have come; according to your servant's word, so it happened."

So Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, and was there three years.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days;

then you shall go to the king and speak to him in this manner." So Joab put the words in her mouth.

So the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said, "Save, O king."

And your servant-woman had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no one to deliver between them, so one struck the other and put him to death.

And behold, the whole family has risen against your servant-woman, and they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and destroy the heir also.' Thus they will extinguish my coal which remains, so as to leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth."