2 Samuel 13:1

The Rape of Tamar

13:1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. In the course of time David’s son Amnon fell madly in love with her. 1 

2 Samuel 13:17

13:17 He called his personal attendant and said to him, “Take this woman out of my sight 2  and lock the door behind her!”

2 Samuel 14:4

14:4 So the Tekoan woman went 3  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, 4  O king!”

1 tn Heb “Amnon the son of David loved her.” The following verse indicates the extreme nature of his infatuation, so the translation uses “madly in love” here.

sn Amnon was the half-brother of Tamar; Absalom was her full blood-brother.

2 tn Heb “send this [one] from upon me to the outside.”

3 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַתַּבֹא (vattavo’, “and she went”) rather than the MT וַתֹּאמֶר (vatto’mer, “and she said”). The MT reading shows confusion with וַתֹּאמֶר later in the verse. The emendation suggested here is supported by the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, some mss of the Targum, and Vulgate.

4 tn The word “me” is left to be inferred in the Hebrew text; it is present in the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate.