2 Samuel 13:16She said to him, "Not so, because this great wrong in sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me!" But he would not listen to her.
The setting
Jerusalem palace, ~1000 BC. Princess Tamar, torn and traumatized, tries to reason with her rapist brother. She knows that dismissing her is worse than the assault - it denies her personhood entirely.
The emotion here: anguished at recording a victim's unheard plea for justice
The original word
ra'ah (רָעָה) — evil, wickedness, calamity - she's naming his actions as moral evil
Why it matters
In ancient Israel, sending away an unmarried woman after sexual contact left her permanently unmarriageable and destitute
Read with care
What most readers miss in 2 Samuel 13:16
Tamar is making a legal argument - by ancient law, he should marry her or pay her father; abandoning her compounds the crime
Common misconceptionPeople think Tamar is being dramatic, but she's making a precise legal and social point - abandonment after assault was culturally worse than the assault itself because it destroyed all future hope.
The thread continues
Verses that echo 2 Samuel 13:16
Bible Genome reading
2 Samuel 13:16 — Bible Genome reading
Emotional genome
2 Samuel 13:16 comes from the book of 2 Samuel, written during the United Kingdom period. The setting is a royal palace. These words are attributed to Tamar. The dominant emotion in this verse is grieving, with a comfort power of 20% and a tone that is lamenting. It belongs to the dialogue genre of biblical literature. Key themes include injustice, abandonment, trauma. Notable phrases: this great wrong.
Emotionally similar
Verses that meet the same grieving
“By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you…”
— Genesis 3:19
“Jesus wept.”
— John 11:35
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?”
— Psalms 22:1
“They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.”
— Psalms 22:18
“for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;”
— Romans 3:23
Your reflection
What does 2 Samuel 13:16 mean to you, today?
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