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2 Samuel 13:2

in 2 Samuel 13

Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything unto her.

KJV

And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 13

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Amnon was so vexed - for she was a virgin - It has been well remarked that “the passion of love is nowhere so wasting and vexatious, as where it is unlawful. A quick sense of guilt, especially where it is enormous, as in the present instance, strikes the soul with horror; and the impossibility of an innocent gratification loads that horror with desperation: a conflict too cruel and too dreadful for human bearing.” - Delaney.

This site's exposition

had a fair sister

on 2 Samuel 13:1-3

The chapter names the two brothers on either side of Tamar in one breath: Absalom, her full brother, and Amnon, David's firstborn by Ahinoam and her half brother only. Amnon's love curdles at once into vexation, a want that cannot be filled without breaking the law of Israel. Jonadab, David's own nephew through his brother Shimeah, enters as a very subtil man, the same word Scripture uses elsewhere for shrewdness bent toward evil.

This site's exposition

for she was a virgin

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown explain that unmarried daughters lived in close seclusion and were seen by men only with witnesses present. That custom is why Amnon saw no way to be alone with her. The scheme that follows is built to get around it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Amnon was so vexed,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Fleshly lusts are their own punishment, and not only war against the soul, but against the body too, and are the rottenness of the bones. See what a hard master sinners serve, and how heavy his yoke is.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

for she was a virgin--Unmarried daughters were kept in close seclusion from the company of men; no strangers, nor even their relatives of the other sex, being permitted to see them without the presence of witnesses.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּ֨צֶרand it was distress

    vaiyetzerH3334 →

  • לְאַמְנ֜וֹןto Amnon

    leamnonH550 →28 times

  • לְהִתְחַלּ֗וֹתto make himself sick

    lehitchalotH2470 →76 times

  • בַּֽעֲבוּר֙forsake of

    baavurH5668 →49 times

  • תָּמָ֣רTamar

    tamarH8559 →25 times

  • אֲחֹת֔וֹsister his

    ʾachotoH269 →114 times

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • בְתוּלָ֖ה[was] a virgin

    vetulahH1330 →

  • הִ֑יאshe

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • וַיִּפָּלֵא֙and it was difficult

    vaiyipale'H6381 →

  • בְּעֵינֵ֣יin [the] eyes of

    beeineiH5869 →887 times

  • אַמְנ֔וֹןAmnon

    ʾamnonH550 →28 times

  • לַעֲשׂ֥וֹתto do

    laasotH6213 →2628 times

  • לָ֖הּto <the> her

    lah

  • מְאֽוּמָה׃anything

    meumahH3972 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Corinthians 7:10

    Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

    it leads to

    • Acts 3:19

      Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

    • Acts 11:18

      When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

    • 2 Timothy 2:25–26

      He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.

    • 2 Samuel 12:13

      Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

    • Luke 18:13

      But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

  • Through

    Song of Solomon 5:8

    O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

    it leads to

    • Song of Solomon 2:5

      Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

    • Song of Solomon 2:7

      O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

  • Through

    1 Kings 21:4

    So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 20:43

      Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 13 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 13 →