S. R. Driver (page 298) says of this verse that “the text is untranslatable.” But translators must still make every effort to make sense of it.

But: the connecting word here indicates that what Tamar said was contrary to what Amnon had ordered.

Said: in the context of the exchange between Tamar and Amnon, this may be better translated “answered” or “responded” in many languages.

Once again Good News Translation omits the specific mention of my brother in the words of Tamar (see verse 12), but the reasons may be different here. The Hebrew text at this point is confusing. Some manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament have the word “brother” here, but the word “brother” is not in the Hebrew text. So “brother” is omitted by New International Version, New American Standard Bible, Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not deal with the textual problem here, which suggests that the editors consider the Masoretic Text to be accurate. Where the Greek has “brother,” the Masoretic Text has a word which means “the causes” or “because of.” But this construction is not the expected form that is found elsewhere in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word is spelled somewhat similar to the Hebrew word my brother.

This wrong … is greater than the other: the meaning of this wrong and the other may have to be expressed in more detail in some languages if the readers are to understand the meaning. This wrong refers to the injustice of sending Tamar away to face certain shame and humiliation. The other is a reference to the actual rape that took place, which was the cause of her shame. New Century Version translates “Sending me away would be an even greater evil. That would be worse than what you’ve already done.”

But he would not listen to her: this repeats almost exactly the words of verse 14, where Amnon refused to heed Tamar’s plea not to molest her. The main difference in this case is that the word “voice” does not occur here.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .