Daily Text and Bible Reading: Friday, April 10 [Press play below]

13.1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and David’s son Amnon fell in love with her.
13.2 Amnon was so distressed that he became sick because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin and it seemed impossible for Amnon to do anything to her.
13.3 Now Amnon had a companion named Jehonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jehonadab was a very clever man.
13.4 So he said to him: “Why are you, the king’s son, so depressed every morning? Why not tell me?” Amnon replied to him: “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”
13.5 Jehonadab replied to him: “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please, let my sister Tamar come and serve me some food. If she prepares the food given to the sick before my eyes, I will eat it from her hand.’”
13.6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick, and the king came in to see him. Then Amnon said to the king: “Please, let my sister Tamar come in and bake two heart-shaped cakes before my eyes so that I may take food from her hand.”
13.7 At that David sent a message to Tamar at the house, saying: “Please go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare food for him.”
13.8 So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, where he was lying down. She took the dough and kneaded it into cakes before his eyes and cooked the cakes.
13.9 Then she took the pan and served him. But Amnon refused to eat and said: “Have everybody leave me!” So everybody left him.
13.10 Amnon now said to Tamar: “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.” So Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes that she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom.
13.11 When she brought them for him to eat, he grabbed her and said: “Come, lie down with me, my sister.”
13.12 But she said to him: “No, my brother! Do not humiliate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing.
13.13 How could I live down my shame? And you will be regarded as one of the disgraceful men in Israel. Now speak, please, to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”
13.14 But he refused to listen to her, and he overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her.
13.15 Then Amnon began hating her with a very intense hatred, so that his hatred for her became greater than the love he had felt for her. Amnon said to her: “Get up; go away!”
13.16 At this she said to him: “No, my brother, for sending me away now is worse than what you have done with me!” But he refused to listen to her.
13.17 With that he called his young attendant and said: “Get this person out of my presence, please, and lock the door behind her.”
13.18 (Now she was wearing a special robe, for those were the garments that the virgin daughters of the king wore.) So his attendant led her outside, and he locked the door behind her.
13.19 Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and she ripped apart the fine robe she was wearing; and she kept her hands on her head and walked off, crying out as she walked.
13.20 At this her brother Absalom asked her: “Was it your brother Amnon who was with you? And now keep silent, my sister. He is your brother. Do not let your heart dwell on this matter.” Then Tamar lived in isolation at the house of her brother Absalom.
13.21 When King David heard about all these things, he became very angry. But he would not hurt the feelings of Amnon his son, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.
13.22 And Absalom said nothing to Amnon, either bad or good; for Absalom hated Amnon because he had humiliated his sister Tamar.
13.23 After two full years, Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor, near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the sons of the king.
13.24 So Absalom came in to the king and said: “Your servant is having his sheep sheared. Please let the king and his servants go with me.”
13.25 But the king said to Absalom: “No, my son. If all of us go, we will be a burden to you.” Although he kept urging him, he did not consent to go, but he blessed him.
13.26 Absalom then said: “If not you, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king replied to him: “Why should he go with you?”
13.27 But Absalom urged him, so he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons with him.
13.28 Then Absalom ordered his attendants: “Watch, and when Amnon’s heart is in a cheerful mood from the wine, I will say to you, ‘Strike down Amnon!’ You must then put him to death. Do not be afraid. Is it not I who command you? Be strong and courageous.”
13.29 So Absalom’s attendants did to Amnon exactly as Absalom had ordered; then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one mounted his mule and fled.
13.30 While they were on the way, the report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king, and not one of them survived.”
13.31 At this the king got up and ripped his clothes apart and lay on the ground, and all his servants were standing by with their garments ripped apart.
13.32 However, Jehonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said: “Do not let my lord think that they have killed all the young sons of the king, for only Amnon has died. This is by the order of Absalom, who decided to do this from the day that Amnon humiliated his sister Tamar.
13.33 Now do not let my lord the king pay attention to the report that says, ‘All the king’s sons have died’; only Amnon has died.”
13.34 Meanwhile, Absalom ran away. Later the watchman raised his eyes and saw that there were many people coming from the road behind him next to the mountain.
13.35 At this Jehonadab said to the king: “Look! The king’s sons have returned. It is just as your servant said.”
13.36 As he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in, weeping loudly; also the king and all his servants wept very bitterly.
13.37 But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud the king of Geshur. David mourned his son for many days.
13.38 After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there for three years.
13.39 Finally King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had become reconciled to the death of Amnon.

14.1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah learned that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
14.2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and summoned from there a clever woman and told her: “Act like you are in mourning, please, and put on garments of mourning, and do not rub yourself with oil. Behave like a woman who has been mourning over someone dead for a long time.
14.3 Then go in and speak to the king like this.” With that Joab put the words in her mouth.
14.4 The Tekoite woman went in to the king and fell with her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said: “Help me, O king!”
14.5 The king replied to her: “What is the matter?” To this she said: “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead.
14.6 And I, your servant, had two sons, and the two of them fought with each other in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other down and killed him.
14.7 Now the whole family has risen up against me, your servant, and they are saying, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, even if it means wiping out the heir!’ They would extinguish the last glowing coal that I have left and leave to my husband neither a name nor a survivor on the surface of the earth.”
14.8 Then the king said to the woman: “Go to your home, and I will issue an order regarding you.”
14.9 At this the Tekoite woman said to the king: “O my lord the king, let the guilt be on me and on my father’s house, while the king and his throne are innocent.”
14.10 The king then said: “If anyone speaks further to you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again.”
14.11 But she said: “Please, let the king remember Jehovah your God, so that the avenger of blood does not bring ruin and annihilate my son.” To this he said: “As surely as Jehovah is living, not one of your son’s hairs will fall to the ground.”
14.12 The woman now said: “Let your servant, please, speak a word to my lord the king.” So he said: “Speak!”
14.13 The woman said: “Why, then, have you thought to do something like this against the people of God? When the king speaks this way, he makes himself guilty, for the king does not bring back his own banished son.
14.14 We will surely die and be like waters that are poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. But God would not take away a life, and he considers reasons why the banished one should not always be banished from him.
14.15 I have come in to say this to my lord the king because the people made me afraid. So your servant said, ‘Let me speak, please, to the king. Perhaps the king will act on the request of his slave.
14.16 The king may listen and rescue his slave from the hand of the man seeking to annihilate me and my only son from the inheritance God gave us.’
14.17 Then your servant said, ‘May the word of my lord the king please give me relief,’ for my lord the king is just like an angel of the true God in distinguishing what is good from what is bad. May Jehovah your God be with you.”
14.18 The king now answered the woman: “Please do not hide from me anything I ask you.” The woman replied: “Let my lord the king speak, please.”
14.19 The king then asked: “Did Joab put you up to all of this?” The woman answered: “As surely as you are living, O my lord the king, it is just as my lord the king says, for it was your servant Joab who instructed me and put all these words in the mouth of your servant.
14.20 Your servant Joab has done this to change the appearance of things, but my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of the true God and knows all that is happening in the land.”
14.21 The king then said to Joab: “All right, I will do this thing. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
14.22 At this Joab fell with his face to the ground and prostrated himself and praised the king. Joab said: “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, O my lord the king, because the king has acted on the request of his servant.”
14.23 Then Joab got up and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
14.24 However, the king said: “Let him return to his own house, but he may not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and he did not see the face of the king.
14.25 Now in all Israel, no man was as highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, there was no flaw in him.
14.26 When he shaved his head—he had to shave it at the end of every year because it was so heavy for him—the hair of his head weighed 200 shekels by the royal stone weight.
14.27 To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a very beautiful woman.
14.28 And Absalom continued living in Jerusalem for two full years, but he did not see the face of the king.
14.29 So Absalom summoned Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. Then he sent for him again, a second time, and he still refused to come.
14.30 Finally he said to his servants: “Joab’s plot of land is next to mine, and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So the servants of Absalom set the plot of land on fire.
14.31 At this Joab got up and came to Absalom’s house and said to him: “Why did your servants set my plot of land on fire?”
14.32 Absalom replied to Joab: “Look! I sent this message to you, ‘Come and let me send you to the king to ask: “Why have I come from Geshur? It would have been better for me to stay there. Now let me see the face of the king, and if there is guilt in me, then he should put me to death.”’”
14.33 So Joab went in to the king and told him. Then he called Absalom, who came in to the king and prostrated himself before him, falling with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.