Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The rape of Tamar by her brother Amnon is not an isolated crime, but is interwoven with the relations of power, gender, and violence that are significant for the house of David. For example, while David himself takes women without asking for their consent (2 Sam 11), his other son, Absalom, rapes David’s secondary wives in public. But 2 Sam 13:1–22 is also connected with other biblical stories about sexual violence. Read together with these other stories, such as Gen 34 or Judg 19, the story of Tamar stands out because of its very active female character. The narrator ascribes a very smart and prudent speech to Tamar, whose resistance does not prevent Amnon from raping her but makes her an important character, not least for feminist readers of the Bible today. The story also sheds critical light on the vulnerability of dynastic reign to the abuse of family members and to sexualized violence.</jats:p>