What Does 2 Samuel 13:6 Mean in the King James?
So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come 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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Amnon’s illness is not what keeps Tamar away; it is the disguise that draws her close.
THE MEANING
A calculated desire wears the appearance of need. Amnon lies in bed and asks Tamar to care for him, making her presence seem like a response to illness. The food is his stated reason; bringing her within reach is the request’s hidden purpose.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Vulnerability by itself proves a request is safe. This verse shows that illness can be staged to make another person’s closeness seem harmless.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְחַלֶּה
wayyitḥallēh
GROWS FROM
חלה
ḥ-l-h
To be sick or weak; in this form, to make oneself sick or feign illness.
The verb is reflexive: Amnon takes sickness onto himself, and the KJV wording preserves the staging in “made himself sick.” Two verses earlier, this same root marks his desire as illness; here that inner sickness becomes a deliberate performance that draws Tamar near.
ALSO GROWS
lehitḥallôt: To become sick
לְהִתְחַלּוֹת
A reflexive form of the same root describes Amnon’s sickness in 2 Samuel 13:2, linking his desire with the illness he stages here.
ḥolî: Sickness, illness
חֹלִי
This noun carries the same root into the condition itself, showing the word-family behind Amnon’s performed sickness.
THE PATTERN
A concealed purpose can borrow the appearance of care, familiar speech, or affection to draw another person close.
And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?THE THREAD
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.Two verses earlier, the same root names Amnon’s desire as sickness; here, he actively stages sickness. The root turns an inner fixation into a bodily excuse that gets Tamar summoned.
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