Person Old Testament
Maacah
Also known as Maacah =ESV; Maakah =NIV; Maacah, Maachah =KJV
Maacah, the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, was one of David's wives and the mother of Absalom. Mentioned in 2 verses across 2 books, first at 2 Samuel 3:3.
Why it matters. Daughter of Talmai; wife of David; mother of Absalom
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Maacah
Maacah was the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, a region located northeast of the Sea of Galilee (2Sa.3.3; 1Ch.3.2). She became one of King David's wives and bore him a son named Absalom. Maacah's marriage to David likely served as a political alliance between Israel and Geshur. Absalom, her son, would later flee to Geshur after murdering his half-brother Amnon and remained there for three years (2Sa.13.37-38). Although not mentioned by name, Maacah was likely the mother of Tamar, who was raped by her half-brother Amnon (2Sa.13.1-22). Maacah's role in the biblical narrative is primarily as the mother of Absalom, whose rebellion against David and subsequent death had a profound impact on the king and his reign (2Sa.15-18). Her inclusion in the genealogies of David's family underscores the importance of maternal lineage in the royal line of Judah.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 2 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.