2 Samuel 12:1--13:39
Konteks12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan 1 to David. When he came to David, 2 Nathan 3 said, 4 “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 12:2 The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 12:3 But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. 5 It used to 6 eat his food, 7 drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. 8 It was just like a daughter to him.
12:4 “When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, 9 he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed 10 the traveler who had come to visit him. 11 Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked 12 it for the man who had come to visit him.”
12:5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 13 12:6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!” 14
12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose 15 you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 12:8 I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. 16 I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well! 12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my 17 sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! 18 You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’ 12:11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you 19 from inside your own household! 20 Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. 21 He will have sexual relations with 22 your wives in broad daylight! 23 12:12 Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’” 24
12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven 25 your sin. You are not going to die. 12:14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt 26 in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”
12:15 Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill. 27 12:16 Then David prayed to 28 God for the child and fasted. 29 He would even 30 go and spend the night lying on the ground. 12:17 The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.
12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us 31 when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” 32
12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he 33 realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.” 12:20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.
12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While 34 the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!” 12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 35 ‘Perhaps 36 the Lord will show pity and the child will live. 12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”
12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. 37 She gave birth to a son, and David 38 named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child 39 12:25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah 40 for the Lord’s sake.
12:26 41 So Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city. 12:27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city. 42 12:28 So now assemble the rest of the army 43 and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will capture the city and it will be named for me.”
12:29 So David assembled all the army and went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. 12:30 He took the crown of their king 44 from his head – it was gold, weighed about seventy-five pounds, 45 and held a precious stone – and it was placed on David’s head. He also took from the city a great deal of plunder. 12:31 He removed 46 the people who were in it and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, putting them to work at the brick kiln. This was his policy 47 with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. 48
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. 49 13:2 But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick 50 over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.
13:3 Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very crafty man. 13:4 He asked Amnon, 51 “Why are you, the king’s son, 52 so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.” 13:5 Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. 53 When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”
13:6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.”
13:7 So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.” 13:8 So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched, 54 and baked them. 55 13:9 But when she took the pan and set it before him, he refused to eat. Instead Amnon said, “Get everyone out of here!” 56 So everyone left. 57
13:10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the cakes into the bedroom; then I will eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes that she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom. 13:11 As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, 58 my sister!”
13:12 But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing! 13:13 How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools 59 in Israel! Just 60 speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” 13:14 But he refused to listen to her. 61 He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her. 62 13:15 Then Amnon greatly despised her. 63 His disdain toward her surpassed the love he had previously felt toward her. 64 Amnon said to her, “Get up and leave!”
13:16 But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” 65 But he refused to listen to her. 13:17 He called his personal attendant and said to him, “Take this woman out of my sight 66 and lock the door behind her!” 13:18 (Now she was wearing a long robe, 67 for this is what the king’s virgin daughters used to wear.) So Amnon’s 68 attendant removed her and bolted the door 69 behind her. 13:19 Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.
13:20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was Amnon your brother with you? Now be quiet, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take it so seriously!” 70 Tamar, devastated, lived in the house of her brother Absalom.
13:21 Now King David heard about all these things and was very angry. 71 13:22 But Absalom said nothing to Amnon, either bad or good, yet Absalom hated Amnon because he had humiliated his sister Tamar.
13:23 Two years later Absalom’s sheepshearers were in Baal Hazor, 72 near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons. 13:24 Then Absalom went to the king and said, “My shearers have begun their work. 73 Let the king and his servants go with me.”
13:25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We shouldn’t all go. We shouldn’t burden you in that way.” Though Absalom 74 pressed 75 him, the king 76 was not willing to go. Instead, David 77 blessed him.
13:26 Then Absalom said, “If you will not go, 78 then let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king replied to him, “Why should he go with you?” 13:27 But when Absalom pressed him, he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons along with him.
13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk 79 and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” 80 13:29 So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king’s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.
13:30 While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!” 13:31 Then the king stood up and tore his garments and lay down on the ground. All his servants were standing there with torn garments as well.
13:32 Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about 81 from the day that Amnon 82 humiliated his sister Tamar. 13:33 Now don’t let my lord the king be concerned about the report that has come saying, ‘All the king’s sons are dead.’ It is only Amnon who is dead.”
13:34 In the meantime Absalom fled. When the servant who was the watchman looked up, he saw many people coming from the west 83 on a road beside the hill. 13:35 Jonadab said to the king, “Look! The king’s sons have come! It’s just as I said!”
13:36 Just as he finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived, wailing and weeping. 84 The king and all his servants wept loudly 85 as well. 13:37 But Absalom fled and went to King Talmai son of Ammihud of Geshur. And David 86 grieved over his son every day.
13:38 After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he remained there for three years. 13:39 The king longed 87 to go to Absalom, for he had since been consoled over the death of Amnon. 88
[12:1] 1 tc A few medieval Hebrew
[12:1] 2 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:1] 3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:1] 4 tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”
[12:3] 6 tn The three Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this sentence have a customary nuance; they describe past actions that were repeated or typical.
[12:3] 7 tn Heb “from his morsel.”
[12:3] 8 tn Heb “and on his chest [or perhaps, “lap”] it would lay.”
[12:4] 9 tn Heb “came to the rich man.” In the translation “arrived at the rich man’s home” has been used for stylistic reasons.
[12:4] 10 tn Heb “and he refused to take from his flock and from his herd to prepare [a meal] for.”
[12:4] 11 tn Heb “who had come to him” (also a second time later in this verse). The word “visit” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
[12:4] 12 tn Heb “and prepared.”
[12:5] 13 tn Heb “the man doing this [is] a son of death.” See 1 Sam 20:31 for another use of this expression, which must mean “he is as good as dead” or “he deserves to die,” as 1 Sam 20:32 makes clear.
[12:6] 14 tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek translation has here “sevenfold” rather than “fourfold,” a reading that S. R. Driver thought probably to be the original reading (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 291). However, Exod 22:1 [21:37 HT] specifies fourfold repayment for a stolen sheep, which is consistent with 2 Sam 12:6. Some
[12:6] tn Heb “the lamb he must repay fourfold because he did this thing and because he did not have compassion.”
[12:8] 16 tn Heb “and the wives of your lord into your chest [or “lap”].” The words “I put” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
[12:9] 17 tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”
[12:9] 18 tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.
[12:11] 19 tn Heb “raise up against you disaster.”
[12:11] 20 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NRSV); NCV, TEV, CEV “family.”
[12:11] 22 tn Heb “will lie with” (so NIV, NRSV); TEV “will have intercourse with”; CEV, NLT “will go to bed with.”
[12:11] 23 tn Heb “in the eyes of this sun.”
[12:12] 24 tn Heb “and before the sun.”
[12:14] 26 tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the
[12:15] 27 tn Heb “and the
[12:16] 28 tn Heb “sought” or “searched for.”
[12:16] 29 tn Heb “and David fasted.”
[12:16] 30 tn The three Hebrew verbs that follow in this verse are perfects with prefixed vav. They may describe repeated past actions or actions which accompanied David’s praying and fasting.
[12:18] 31 tn Heb “to our voice.”
[12:18] 32 tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!
[12:19] 33 tn Heb “David.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
[12:21] 34 tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.
[12:22] 36 tn Heb “Who knows?”
[12:24] 37 tn Heb “and he lay with her.”
[12:24] 38 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity. While some translations render the pronoun as third person plural (“they”), implying that both David and Bathsheba together named the child, it is likely that the name “Solomon,” which is related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (and may be derived from it) had special significance for David, who would have regarded the birth of a second child to Bathsheba as a confirming sign that God had forgiven his sin and was at peace with him.
[12:24] 39 tn Heb “him,” referring to the child.
[12:25] 40 sn The name Jedidiah means “loved by the
[12:26] 41 sn Here the narrative resumes the battle story that began in 11:1 (see 11:25). The author has interrupted that story to give the related account of David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. He now returns to the earlier story and brings it to a conclusion.
[12:27] 42 sn The expression translated the water supply of the city (Heb “the city of the waters”) apparently refers to that part of the fortified city that guarded the water supply of the entire city. Joab had already captured this part of the city, but he now defers to King David for the capture of the rest of the city. In this way the king will receive the credit for this achievement.
[12:28] 43 tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 29, 31.
[12:30] 44 tn Part of the Greek tradition wrongly understands Hebrew מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”) as a proper name (“Milcom”). Some English versions follow the Greek here, rendering the phrase “the crown of Milcom” (so NRSV; cf. also NAB, CEV). TEV takes this as a reference not to the Ammonite king but to “the idol of the Ammonite god Molech.”
[12:30] 45 tn Heb “and its weight [was] a talent of gold.” The weight of this ornamental crown was approximately 75 lbs (34 kg). See P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 313.
[12:31] 46 tn Heb “brought out.”
[12:31] 47 tn Heb “and so he would do.”
[12:31] 48 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[13:1] 49 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.
[13:1] sn Amnon was the half-brother of Tamar; Absalom was her full blood-brother.
[13:2] 50 tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”
[13:4] 51 tn Heb “and he said to him.”
[13:4] 52 tn An more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”
[13:5] 53 tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.
[13:8] 54 tn Heb “in his sight.”
[13:9] 56 tn Heb “from upon me.”
[13:9] 57 tc A few medieval Hebrew
[13:11] 58 tn Heb “lie with me” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “come and have sexual relations with me.”
[13:13] 59 tn Heb “and you will be like one of the fools.”
[13:14] 61 tn Heb “to her voice.”
[13:14] 62 tn Heb “and he humiliated her and lay with her.”
[13:15] 63 tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”
[13:15] 64 tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”
[13:16] 65 tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.
[13:17] 66 tn Heb “send this [one] from upon me to the outside.”
[13:18] 67 tn The Hebrew expression used here (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, kÿtonet passim) is found only here and in Gen 37:3, 23, 32. Hebrew פַּס (pas) can refer to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot; here the idea is probably that of a long robe reaching to the feet and having sleeves reaching to the wrists. The notion of a “coat of many colors” (KJV, ASV “garment of divers colors”), a familiar translation for the phrase in Genesis, is based primarily on the translation adopted in the LXX χιτῶνα ποικίλον (citona poikilion) and does not have a great deal of support.
[13:18] 68 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:18] 69 tn The Hebrew verb is a perfect with nonconsecutive vav, probably indicating an action (locking the door) that complements the preceding one (pushing her out the door).
[13:20] 70 tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!”
[13:21] 71 tc The LXX and part of the Old Latin tradition include the following addition to v. 21, also included in some English versions (e.g., NAB, NRSV, CEV): “But he did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son, because he loved him, since he was his firstborn.” Note David’s attitude toward his son Adonijah in 1 Kgs 1:6.
[13:23] 72 map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.
[13:24] 73 tn Heb “your servant has sheepshearers.” The phrase “your servant” also occurs at the end of the verse.
[13:25] 74 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Absalom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:25] 75 tc Here and in v. 27 the translation follows 4QSama ויצפר (vayyitspar, “and he pressed”) rather than the MT וַיִּפְרָץ (vayyiprats, “and he broke through”). This emended reading seems also to underlie the translations of the LXX (καὶ ἐβιάσατο, kai ebiasato), the Syriac Peshitta (we’alseh), and Vulgate (cogeret eum).
[13:25] 76 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:25] 77 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:28] 79 tn Heb “when good is the heart of Amnon with wine.”
[13:28] 80 tn Heb “and become sons of valor.”
[13:32] 81 tn Heb “it was placed on the mouth of Absalom.”
[13:32] 82 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:34] 83 tn Heb “behind him.”
[13:36] 84 tn Heb “and they lifted their voice and wept.”
[13:36] 85 tn Heb “with a great weeping.”
[13:37] 86 tc The Hebrew text leaves the word “David” to be inferred. The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate add the word “David.” Most of the Greek tradition includes the words “King David” here.
[13:39] 87 tc The translation follows 4QSama in reading רוּחַ הַמֶּלֶךְ (ruakh hammelekh, “the spirit of the king”) rather than the MT דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ (david hammelekh, “David the king”). The understanding reflected in the translation above is that David, though alienated during this time from his son Absalom, still had an abiding love and concern for him. He longed for reconciliation with him. A rather different interpretation of the verse supposes that David’s interest in taking military action against Absalom grew slack with the passing of time, and this in turn enabled David’s advisers to encourage him toward reconciliation with Absalom. For the latter view, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 344, and cf. CEV.
[13:39] 88 tn Heb “was consoled over Amnon, because he was dead.”
