Day 369 of 939
2SA 13:1-19
2SA 13:1-19 · ACT 9:20-31
Not written yet
The reading for this day is below. The commentary has not been written and reviewed yet — it is added a book at a time, and every day is read by a person before it appears here.
2SA 13:1-19
1After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom. 2Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her. 3Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man, 4and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” 5Jonadab told him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.’” 6So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.” 7Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.” 8So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them. 9Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out. 10Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom. 11And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!” 12“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! 13Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” 14But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her. 15Then 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!” 16“No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her. 17Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!” 18So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. 19And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.
Secondary reading — ACT 9:20-31
20Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.” 21All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. 23After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. 25One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall. 26When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus. 28So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.