HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 654
2 S A MU EL 1 4
page 284
Absalom never spoke to Amnon about this, he
hated Amnon deeply because of what he had
done to his sister.
14
Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon
23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were
being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim,
Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come
to a feast. 24 He went to the king and said, “My
sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king
and his servants please come to celebrate the
occasion with me?”
25 The king replied, “No, my son. If we all
came, we would be too much of a burden on
you.” Absalom pressed him, but the king would
not come, though he gave Absalom his blessing.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t
come, how about sending my brother Amnon
with us?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked. 27 But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally
agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon. So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king.*
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 has given the command. Take courage and do it!” 29 So at Absalom’s signal they murdered Amnon. Then the
other sons of the king jumped on their mules
and fled.
30 As they were on the way back to Jerusalem,
this report reached David: “Absalom has killed
all the king’s sons; not one is left alive!” 31 The
king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on
the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes
in horror and sorrow.
32 But just then Jonadab, the son of David’s
brother Shimea, arrived and said, “No, don’t believe that all the king’s sons have been killed!
It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting
this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar.
33 No, my lord the king, your sons aren’t all
dead! It was only Amnon.” 34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped.
Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall
saw a great crowd coming down the hill on the
road from the west. He ran to tell the king, “I see
a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim
road along the side of the hill.”*
35 “Look!” Jonadab told the king. “There they
are now! The king’s sons are coming, just as I
said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing,
and the king and all his servants wept bitterly
with them. 37 And David mourned many days for
his son Amnon.
Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son
of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. 38 He stayed
there in Geshur for three years. 39 And King David,* now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed
to be reunited with his son Absalom.*
13:27 As in Greek and Latin versions (compare also Dead
Sea Scrolls); the Hebrew text lacks this sentence. 13:34 As
in Greek version; Hebrew lacks this sentence. 13:39a Dead
Sea Scrolls and Greek version read And the spirit of the
king. 13:39b Or no longer felt a need to go out after Absalom.
14:2 Hebrew don’t anoint yourself with oil. 14:4 As in many
Hebrew manuscripts and Greek and Syriac versions; Masoretic
Text reads spoke to.
Joab Arranges for Absalom’s Return
Joab realized how much the king longed
to see Absalom. 2 So he sent for a woman
from Tekoa who had a reputation for great
wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in
mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t
put on lotions.* Act like a woman who has been
mourning for the dead for a long time. 3 Then go
to the king and tell him the story I am about to
tell you.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4 When the woman from Tekoa approached*
the king, she bowed with her face to the ground
in deep respect and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5 “What’s the trouble?” the king asked.
“Alas, I am a widow!” she replied. “My husband is dead. 6 My two sons had a fight out in the
field. And since no one was there to stop it, one
of them was killed. 7 Now the rest of the family
is demanding, ‘Let us have your son. We will execute him for murdering his brother. He doesn’t
deserve to inherit his family’s property.’ They
want to extinguish the only coal I have left, and
my husband’s name and family will disappear
from the face of the earth.”
8 “Leave it to me,” the king told her. “Go home,
and I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9 “Oh, thank you, my lord the king,” the
woman from Tekoa replied. “If you are criticized for helping me, let the blame fall on me
and on my father’s house, and let the king and
his throne be innocent.”
10 “If anyone objects,” the king said, “bring
him to me. I can assure you he will never harm
you again!”
11 Then she said, “Please swear to me by the
Lord your God that you won’t let anyone take
vengeance against my son. I want no more
bloodshed.”
“As surely as the Lord lives,” he replied, “not
a hair on your son’s head will be disturbed!”
12 “Please allow me to ask one more thing of
my lord the king,” she said.
“Go ahead and speak,” he responded.
13 She replied, “Why don’t you do as much for
the people of God as you have promised to do
for me? 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 spilled
out on the ground, which cannot be gathered
up again. But God does not just sweep life away;
instead, he devises ways to bring us back when
we have been separated from him.
15 “I have come to plead with my lord the king
because people have threatened me. I said to