2 Samuel 13:6

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick, and when the king came to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar, my sister, come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat at her hand.

2 Samuel 13:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:6

So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick
Took the advice of his cousin Jonadab, and acted according to it:

and when the king was come to see him;
as he quickly did, after he had heard of his illness:

Amnon said unto the king;
who perhaps inquired of his appetite, whether he could eat anything, and what:

I pray thee let my sister Tamar come;
he calls her sister, as Jonadab had directed, the more to blind his design; though it is much that so sagacious a man as David was had not seen through it; but the notion he had of his being really ill, and the near relation between him and Tamar, forbad his entertaining the least suspicion of that kind:

and make me a couple of cakes in my sight;
heart cakes, as the word may be thought to signify; called so either from the form of them, such as We have with us, or from the effect of them, comforting and refreshing the heart:

that I may eat at her hand;
both what is made by her hand, and received from it.

2 Samuel 13:6 In-Context

4 And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s son, becoming thinner from day to day? Wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.
5 And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed and pretend to be sick; and when thy father comes to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me food and make the food in my sight that I may see it and eat it at her hand.
6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick, and when the king came to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar, my sister, come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat at her hand.
7 Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon’s house and make him something to eat.
8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was lying down. And she took flour and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010