2 Samuel 13:1-9 ▼

1 Now it was after this that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David loved her.

2 Amnon was so frustrated because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her.

3 But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.

4 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.|

5 Jonadab then said to him, |Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me [some] food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see [it] and eat from her hand.'|

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; when the king came to see him, 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.|

7 Then David sent to the house for Tamar, saying, |Go now to your brother Amnon's house, and prepare food for him.|

8 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.

9 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.