Chronological
13 Prince Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Prince Amnon (her half brother) fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so tormented by his love for her that he became ill. He had no way of talking to her, for the girls and young men were kept strictly apart.[a] 3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab (the son of David’s brother Shimeah).
4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so haggard morning after morning?”
So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my half sister.”
5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are sick; when your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she feeds you.”
6 So Amnon did. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him for this favor—that his sister Tamar be permitted to come and cook a little something for him to eat. 7 David agreed and sent word to Tamar to go to Amnon’s quarters and prepare some food for him. 8 So she did and went into his bedroom so that he could watch her mix some dough; then she baked some special bread for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat!
“Everyone get out of here,” he told his servants; so they all left the apartment.
10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring me the food again here in my bedroom and feed it to me.” So Tamar took it to him. 11 But as she was standing there before him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling.”
12 “Oh, Amnon,” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! You know what a serious crime it is in Israel.[b] 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, for he will let you marry me.”
14 But he wouldn’t listen to her; and since he was stronger than she, he forced her. 15 Then suddenly his love turned to hate, and now he hated her more than he had loved her.
“Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” she cried. “To reject me now is a greater crime than the other you did to me.”
But he wouldn’t listen to her. 17-18 He shouted for his valet and demanded, “Throw this woman out and lock the door behind her.”
So he put her out. She was wearing a long robe with sleeves, as was the custom in those days for virgin daughters of the king. 19 Now she tore the robe and put ashes on her head and with her head in her hands went away crying.
20 Her brother Absalom asked her, “Is it true that Amnon raped you? Don’t be so upset, since it’s all in the family anyway. It’s not anything to worry about!”
So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s quarters.
21-24 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry, but Absalom said nothing one way or the other about this to Amnon. However, he hated him with a deep hatred because of what he had done to his sister. Then, two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor in Ephraim, Absalom invited his father and all his brothers to come to a feast to celebrate the occasion.
25 The king replied, “No, my boy; if we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you.”
Absalom pressed him, but he wouldn’t come, though he sent his thanks.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my brother Amnon instead?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked.
27 Absalom kept on urging the matter until finally the king agreed and let all of his sons attend, including Amnon.
28 Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk, then, at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who gives the orders around here, and this is a command. Take courage and do it!”
29-30 So they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled. As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, the report reached David: “Absalom has killed all of your sons, and not one is left alive!”
31 The king jumped up, ripped off his robe, and fell prostrate to the ground. His aides also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
32-33 But just then Jonadab (the son of David’s brother Shimeah) arrived and said, “No, not all have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped Tamar. No, no! Your sons aren’t all dead! It was only Amnon.”
34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped. Now the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming toward the city along the road at the side of the hill.
35 “See!” Jonadab told the king. “There they are now! Your sons are coming, just as I said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and his officials wept with them. 37-39 Absalom fled to King Talmai of Geshur[c] (the son of Ammihud) and stayed there three years. Meanwhile David, now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed day after day for fellowship with his son Absalom.
14 When General Joab realized how much the king was longing to see Absalom, 2-3 he sent for a woman of Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom and told her to ask for an appointment with the king. He told her what to say to him.
“Pretend you are in mourning,” Joab instructed her. “Wear mourning clothes, and dishevel your hair as though you have been in deep sorrow for a long time.”
4 When the woman approached the king, she fell face downward on the floor in front of him, and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5-6 “What’s the trouble?” he asked.
“I am a widow,” she replied, “and my two sons had a fight out in the field, and since no one was there to part them, one of them was killed. 7 Now the rest of the family is demanding that I surrender my other son to them to be executed for murdering his brother. But if I do that, I will have no one left, and my husband’s name will be destroyed from the face of the earth.”
8 “Leave it with me,” the king told her. “I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9 “Oh, thank you, my lord,” she replied. “And I’ll take the responsibility if you are criticized for helping me like this.”
10 “Don’t worry about that!” the king replied. “If anyone objects, bring him to me; I can assure you he will never complain again!”
11 Then she said, “Please swear to me by God that you won’t let anyone harm my son. I want no more bloodshed.”
“I vow by God,” he replied, “that not a hair of your son’s head shall be disturbed!”
12 “Please let me ask one more thing of you!” she said.
“Go ahead,” he replied. “Speak!”
13 “Why don’t you do as much for all the people of God as you have promised to do for me?” she asked. “You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son. 14 All of us must die eventually; our lives are like water that is poured out on the ground—it can’t be gathered up again. But God will bless you with a longer life if you will find a way to bring your son back from his exile.[d] 15-16 But I have come to plead with you for my son because my life and my son’s life have been threatened, and I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me and rescue us from those who would end our existence in Israel. 17 Yes, the king will give us peace again.’ I know that you are like an angel of God and can discern good from evil. May God be with you.”
18 “I want to know one thing,” the king replied.
“Yes, my lord?” she asked.
19 “Did Joab send you here?”
And the woman replied, “How can I deny it? Yes, Joab sent me and told me what to say. 20 He did it in order to place the matter before you in a different light. But you are as wise as an angel of God, and you know everything that happens!”
21 So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back Absalom.”
22 Joab fell to the ground before the king and blessed him and said, “At last I know that you like me! For you have granted me this request!”
23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
24 “He may go to his own quarters,” the king ordered, “but he must never come here. I refuse to see him.”
25 Now no one in Israel was such a handsome specimen of manhood as Absalom, and no one else received such praise. 26 He cut his hair only once a year—and then only because it weighed three pounds and was too much of a load to carry around! 27 He had three sons and one daughter, Tamar, who was a very beautiful girl.
28 After Absalom had been in Jerusalem for two years and had not yet seen the king, 29 he sent for Joab to ask him to intercede for him; but Joab wouldn’t come. Absalom sent for him again, but again he refused to come.
30 So Absalom said to his servants, “Go and set fire to that barley field of Joab’s next to mine,” and they did.
31 Then Joab came to Absalom and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 And Absalom replied, “Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn’t intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me have an interview with the king; then if he finds that I am guilty of murder, let him execute me.”
33 So Joab told the king what Absalom had said. Then at last David summoned Absalom, and he came and bowed low before the king, and David kissed him.
15 Absalom then bought a magnificent chariot and chariot horses, and hired fifty footmen to run ahead of him. 2 He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city; and when anyone came to bring a case to the king for trial, Absalom called him over and expressed interest in his problem.
3 He would say, “I can see that you are right in this matter; it’s unfortunate that the king doesn’t have anyone to assist him in hearing these cases. 4 I surely wish I were the judge; then anyone with a lawsuit could come to me, and I would give him justice!”
5 And when anyone came to bow to him, Absalom wouldn’t let him, but shook his hand instead![e] 6 So in this way Absalom stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.
7-8 After four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron to sacrifice to the Lord in fulfillment of a vow I made to him while I was at Geshur—that if he would bring me back to Jerusalem, I would sacrifice to him.”
9 “All right,” the king told him, “go and fulfill your vow.”
So Absalom went to Hebron.[f] 10 But while he was there, he sent spies to every part of Israel to incite rebellion against the king. “As soon as you hear the trumpets,” his message read, “you will know that Absalom has been crowned in Hebron.” 11 He took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. 12 While he was offering the sacrifice, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David’s counselors who lived in Giloh. Ahithophel declared for Absalom, as did more and more others. So the conspiracy became very strong.
13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell King David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!”
14 “Then we must flee at once or it will be too late!” was David’s instant response to his men. “If we get out of the city before he arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be saved.”
15 “We are with you,” his aides replied. “Do as you think best.”
16 So the king and his household set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his young wives to keep the palace in order. 17-18 David paused at the edge of the city to let his troops move past him to lead the way—six hundred Gittites who had come with him from Gath, and the Cherethites and Pelethites.
19-20 But suddenly the king turned to Ittai, the captain of the six hundred Gittites, and said to him, “What are you doing here? Go on back with your men to Jerusalem, to your king, for you are a guest in Israel, a foreigner in exile. It seems but yesterday that you arrived, and now today should I force you to wander with us, who knows where? Go on back and take your troops with you, and may the Lord be merciful to you.”
21 But Ittai replied, “I vow by God and by your own life that wherever you go, I will go, no matter what happens—whether it means life or death.”
22 So David replied, “All right, come with us.” Then Ittai and his six hundred men and their families went along.
23 There was deep sadness throughout the city as the king and his retinue passed by, crossed Kidron Brook, and went out into the country. 24 Abiathar and Zadok and the Levites took the Ark of the Covenant of God and set it down beside the road until everyone had passed. 25-26 Then, following David’s instructions, Zadok took the Ark back into the city. “If the Lord sees fit,” David said, “he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, well, let him do what seems best to him.”
27 Then the king told Zadok, “Look, here is my plan. Return quietly to the city with your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. 28 I will stop at the ford of the Jordan River and wait there for a message from you. Let me know what happens in Jerusalem before I disappear into the wilderness.”
29 So Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back into the city and stayed there.
30 David walked up the road that led to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the mountain. 31 When someone told David that Ahithophel, his advisor, was backing Absalom, David prayed, “O Lord, please make Ahithophel give Absalom foolish advice!” 32 As they reached the spot at the top of the Mount of Olives where people worshiped God, David found Hushai the Archite waiting for him with torn clothing and earth upon his head.
33-34 But David told him, “If you go with me, you will only be a burden; return to Jerusalem and tell Absalom, ‘I will counsel you as I did your father.’ Then you can frustrate and counter Ahithophel’s advice. 35-36 Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, are there. Tell them the plans that are being made to capture me, and they will send their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan to find me and tell me what is going on.”
37 So David’s friend Hushai returned to the city, getting there just as Absalom arrived.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.