And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her.

And she said unto him, Not so, because this great wrong in putting me forth is worse than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her.

She answered him: This evil which now thou dost against me, in driving me away, is greater than that which thou didst before. And he would not hearken to her:

And she said to him, There is no cause for this evil in sending me away, which is greater than the other that thou didst to me. But he would not hearken to her.

And she saith to him, 'Because of the circumstances this evil is greater than the other that thou hast done with me, to send me away;' and he hath not been willing to hearken to her,

And she said to him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me. But he would not listen to her.

And she said to him, Not so, my brother, for this great wrong in sending me away is worse than what you did to me before. But he gave no attention to her.

And she answered him, "This evil is greater, which you are now doing against me in driving me away, than what you did before." But he was not willing to listen to her.

The sense of the passage probably is, "And she spake with him on account of this great wrong in sending me away, greater than the other wrong which thou hast done me (said she), but he hearkened not unto her." The Hebrew text is probably corrupt, and the writer blends Tamar's words with his own narrative.

And she said unto him, there is no cause,.... For such treatment as this:
this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me; not that this was a greater sin, but it was a greater evil or injury to her, that being done secretly, this openly; being turned out in that open manner, it might look as if she was the aggressor, and had drawn her brother into this sin, or however had consented to it; had it been kept a secret, she would not have been exposed to public shame and disgrace, and she might have been disposed of in marriage to another; it would not have been known to the grief of her father, to the revenge of Absalom, and to the dishonour of religion; besides, the sin of Amnon might have been more easily excused, if any excuse could be made for it, as that it arose from the force of lust, and a strong impure affection, but this from barbarity and inhumanity:
but he would not hearken unto her; but insisted upon her immediate departure.

Tamar replied, "Do not become the cause of this great evil, (which is) greater than another that thou hast done to me, to thrust me away," i.e., do not add to the great wrong which thou hast done me the still greater one of thrusting me away. This is apparently the only admissible explanation of the difficult expression אל־אדות, as nothing more is needed than to supply תּהי. Tamar calls his sending her away a greater evil than the one already done to her, because it would inevitably be supposed that she had been guilty of some shameful conduct herself, that the seduction had come from her; whereas she was perfectly innocent, and had done nothing but what affection towards a sick brother dictated, whilst it was impossible for her to call for help (as prescribed in Deuteronomy 22:27), because Amnon had sent the servants away, and Tamar could not in any case expect assistance from them.

No cause - For me to go. Greater thou the other - This she might truly say, because though the other was in itself a greater sin, yet this was an act of greater cruelty, and a greater calamity to her because it exposed her to publick infamy and contempt, and besides, it turned a private offence into a publick scandal, to the great dishonour of God and of his people, and especially of all the royal family.