Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Samuel 13:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Jonadab Designs Access to Tamar.”
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 13:1–7
Read 2 Samuel 13:3 with 13:1–7. The wording “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was…” supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Amnon's obsession, Jonadab's scheme, feigned sickness, and David's command bring Tamar into Amnon's private space.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Jonadab Designs Access to Tamar,” 2 Samuel 13:3 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Amnon's scheme begins the household violence Nathan announced after David's abuse, while the narrator still assigns every harmful choice to its human actor. The Rabbah conquest in 12:26–31 is adjacent but does not cause Amnon's plan.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for the people it exposes, takes, silences, injures, or kills; truthful memory keeps their bodies, testimony, agency, and cost visible. In this unit, that truth is tested by the concrete movement: Amnon's obsession, Jonadab's scheme, feigned sickness, and David's command bring Tamar into Amnon's private space. In 2 Samuel 13:3, the concrete line “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was….” Respond to sexual coercion or assault by protecting the person harmed, preserving their choices and testimony, involving qualified independent support, and holding the person who used power accountable. This response follows from the unit's own pattern—Amnon's obsession, Jonadab's scheme, feigned sickness, and David's command bring Tamar into Amnon's private space.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Samuel 13:1–7 — Jonadab Designs Access to TamarSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Samuel 13:1-7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 13:1-7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Samuel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 560–561, translation and all translator notes attached to 13:1-7
Open source ↗