Bible Strands
2 Samuel 13:1
After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative places David’s son Amnon at an unspecified point in time, shifting focus to his sudden emotional fixation on his half-sister Tamar.
The words — וַ/יְהִ֣י (va/y.Hi) literally means “and it was,” functioning as a temporal marker, while יָפָ֖ה (ya.Fah) translates “beautiful,” directly modifying Tamar’s description.
The thread — The familial relationships are fixed in 2 Samuel 3:2, which identifies Amnon as David’s firstborn, and 1 Chronicles 3:9, which lists Tamar as their sister, while 2 Samuel 13:15 records the immediate reversal of this affection into hatred.
Why it lands — The text records a forbidden desire that immediately precedes a crisis of action, forcing the reader to track how unregulated passion initiates a cycle of violence within the royal household.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 3:9 These were all the sons of David, besides the sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.
- 2 Samuel 3:2 And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
- 2 Samuel 13:15 Then 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 Samuel 14:27 Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
- 1 Chronicles 3:2 the third was Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith;
- Genesis 6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.
- Genesis 29:18 Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
- Genesis 34:3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.
- Genesis 39:6 So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,