2 Samuel · 39 verses
2 Samuel 13
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
An elaborate cake service ends with the cakes refused, the guests dismissed, and Tamar thrown out; two years later, a royal feast ends with Amnon dead and every other son fleeing on his own mule.
The cakes and the locked doorvv. 1–22
Amnon’s longing begins with a feigned illness and an impressively unnecessary pastry arrangement. Jonadab supplies the scheme, David sends Tamar, and Tamar kneads, bakes, and presents the cakes—whereupon Amnon refuses the food and sends everyone away. The room then turns from cookery to violence. Tamar pleads with him, even suggesting that David might permit the marriage, but Amnon will not listen. He throws her out, bolts the door, and leaves her carrying ashes, torn clothing, and a great deal more than a rejected meal. Absalom tells her to be quiet and lets her live desolate in his house; David is furious, while Absalom says nothing to Amnon at all.
A feast with a private instructionvv. 23–36
Two years pass. Absalom’s sheepshearers are at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, and Absalom invites the king’s sons. David declines the invitation but sends Amnon when Absalom presses the matter. The young men are told to wait until Amnon is merry with wine, then strike him down on command. They do precisely that. The other sons rise and flee, each on a mule—a remarkably orderly detail for a panic. Before they arrive, David hears the splendidly inaccurate report that every royal son has been killed, tears his clothes, and lies on the ground. Jonadab corrects the report: only Amnon is dead, and Absalom has been planning it since the violation of Tamar.
The son who fled, and the son David still wantedvv. 37–39
Absalom has fled to Geshur, where he remains for three years with Talmai son of Ammihud, its king. David mourns Amnon every day, yet longs to go to Absalom, having been consoled over Amnon’s death. The chapter leaves that longing sitting rather awkwardly beside the consolation, as though both have been given the same chair.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Sam 13:1After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.
2 Sam 13:2Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.
2 Sam 13:3Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,
2 Sam 13:4and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
2 Sam 13:5Jonadab told him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.’”
2 Sam 13:6So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”
2 Sam 13:7Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.”
2 Sam 13:8So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them.
2 Sam 13:9Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out.
2 Sam 13:10Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom.
2 Sam 13:11And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!”
2 Sam 13:12“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!
2 Sam 13:13Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”
2 Sam 13:14But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.
2 Sam 13:15Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”
2 Sam 13:16“No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her.
2 Sam 13:17Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”
2 Sam 13:18So 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.
2 Sam 13:19And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.
2 Sam 13:20Her 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.
2 Sam 13:21When King David heard all this, he was furious.
2 Sam 13:22And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.
2 Sam 13:23Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.
2 Sam 13:24And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?”
2 Sam 13:25“No, my son,” the king replied, “we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing.
2 Sam 13:26“If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” “Why should he go with you?” the king asked.
2 Sam 13:27But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons.
2 Sam 13:28Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”
2 Sam 13:29So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.
2 Sam 13:30While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!”
2 Sam 13:31Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
2 Sam 13:32But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar.
2 Sam 13:33So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the sons of the king are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”
2 Sam 13:34Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”
2 Sam 13:35So Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the sons of the king have arrived! It is just as your servant said.”
2 Sam 13:36And as he finished speaking, the sons of the king came in, wailing loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.
2 Sam 13:37Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.
2 Sam 13:38After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years.
2 Sam 13:39And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 205 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 11 Chronicles 3:9These were all the sons of David, besides the sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.
- 12 Samuel 3:2–3And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
- 31 Samuel 16:9Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
- 6Genesis 18:6So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”
- 9Genesis 45:1Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
- 12Judges 19:23The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage.
- 12Judges 20:6Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.
- 12Leviticus 20:17If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
- 22Genesis 31:24But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
- 22Leviticus 19:17–18You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.
- 28Judges 19:6So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”
- 312 Samuel 1:11Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.
- 312 Samuel 12:16David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
- 372 Samuel 3:3his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;
- 12 Samuel 14:27Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
- 12 Samuel 13:15Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”
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