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2 Samuel 13 · a question people ask

Is this the sword Nathan said would never leave David's house?

In the text

In the chapter before, Nathan told David, "Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house" (12:10), and he brought David this word from the LORD: "Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house" (12:11). This chapter tells of trouble among David's own sons: Absalom had his servants kill Amnon (13:28-29) and fled (13:37-38). The introduction to 2 Samuel sets Nathan's word before these chapters (12:10; 13:1-18:33). This chapter itself doesn't point back to Nathan's words or say that they are coming true here, and this answer leaves the two side by side, as the book does.

The verses

“Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.”
2 Samuel 12:10-11 · World English Bible
“Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got up on his mule and fled.”
2 Samuel 13:28-29 · World English Bible
“But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years.”
2 Samuel 13:37-38 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Samuel 13

2 Samuel 13: No such thing in Israel

Tamar answers in words Israel had heard before: "no such thing ought to be done in Israel" and "folly" (13:12) are, in Hebrew, the words of Genesis 34:7, and her "garment of various colors" (13:18) is the Hebrew of Joseph's tunic (Genesis 37:3), whose father also "mourned for his son" (Genesis 37:34).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions