撒母耳記上 20
1 達味由辣瑪納逃走，去見約納堂說：「我作了什麼，有什麼過錯，哪裏得了你父親，他竟要害我的性命﹖」
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
2 約納堂回答他說：「決沒有這回事，你決死不了。看，我父親無論作什麼大事小事，沒有不告訴我的；為什麼我父親偏要對我隱瞞這事呢﹖決不會的! 」
“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”
3 達味卻對他說：「你父親明知我在你眼裏得寵，所以他想：不要要約納堂知道這事，免得他悲傷。總之，我指著永生的上主敢在你面前發誓：我與死之間只差一步! 」
But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 約納堂對達味說：「你願意我為你作什麼﹖」
Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
5 達味回答約納堂說：「看，明天是月朔，我原該和君王同席吃飯，但你讓我走，藏在田野間，直到第三丌晚上。
So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.
6 如果你父親發覺我不在，你應說：達味懇求我，讓他逃回白冷本城，因為在那裏全族舉行年祭。
If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
7 他若說：好! 你的僕人就平安無事；他若勃然大怒，你就該知道：他已決意行惡。
If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
8 望你仁慈對待你僕人! 因你使你因上主的名與你訂了盟約；假若我有罪惡，你可殺我，為何偏要將我交給你父親呢﹖」
Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
9 約納堂答說：「千萬別這樣想! 如果我確實知道，我父親決意要加害你，豈有不告訴你的嗎﹖」
“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”
10 達味就問約納堂說：「若你父親嚴厲答覆你，誰來通知我﹖」
Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 約納堂對達味說：「來，我們往田間去」。二人就往田間去了。
“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,
12 約納堂對達味說：「上主，以色列的天主作證：明天或天這時候，我探得了我父親的意思，對達味有或否，我必派人來告訴你。
and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?
13 倘若我父親願意加害你，我若不通知你，不放你走，使你平安離去，願上主這樣這樣加倍罰我約納堂! 願上主與你同在，有如曾與我父親同在一樣!
But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.
14 若我那時尚在人世，願你對我表示上主的仁慈；設若我死了，
And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,
15 願你不要由我家永遠撤消你的仁慈! 連當上主由地面上一一剷除達味的敵人時；
and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 若約納堂的名字被達味家族消滅了，願上主藉達味的仇人的手追究此案! 」
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
17 約納堂由於愛達味，再向他起了誓，因為他愛達味如愛自己的性命。
And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
18 約納堂又對他說：「明日是月朔，因為占座位空著，人必注意你不在，
Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed if your seat is empty.
19 到第三天，人必更注意你不在；那麼，你要到你曾出事那日藏身的地方去，坐在那石堆旁邊。
When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
20 到第三天，我要向石堆射箭，仿佛射靶。
I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.
21 看，我必打發一童僕去找箭，假如我我對童說：看，箭在你後面，拾回來吧! 你就可以出來，我指著永生的上主起誓：你必平安無事。
Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.
22 倘若我對童僕自己說：看，箭在你前面。你就走吧! 因為上主打發你走。
But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.
23 至於我和你現今所說的這話，有上主在我和你中間，永遠作證」。
And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
24 於是達味就去藏在田野間；到了月朔，君王入席吃飯。
So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
25 君王照例靠著牆坐在自己的位上，約納堂坐在他對面，阿貝乃爾坐在撒烏耳旁邊，達味的地方空著。
He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.
26 撒烏耳那天沒有說什麼，因為他想事情出於偶然，或許他染了不潔，還沒有自潔。
Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”
27 日，即初二日，達味的座位仍空著，撒烏耳就對兒子約納堂說：「為什麼葉瑟的兒子昨日沒有來赴宴，今日又沒有來﹖」
But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28 約納堂答覆撒烏耳說：「達味懇求我許他往白冷去。
Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
29 他說：求你讓我去，因為在城裏我們要舉行族祭，我的兄弟定要我去；所以，假若我在你眼中獲寵，求你讓我去，容我得見我的兄弟；為此，他沒有來赴君王的筳席」。
saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he did not come to the king’s table.”
30 撒烏耳對約納堂勃然大怒，對他說：「娼婦的兒子! 豈能我不知道你同葉瑟的兒子一夥，甚至羞辱你自己，又我羞辱你母親的私處嗎﹖
Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the disgrace of the mother who bore you?
31 你要知道，葉瑟的兒子活在世上一天，你連你的王位都不得穩當! 如今你差人去，把他給我抓來，因為他是該死的人」。
For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”
32 約納堂回答他父親撒烏耳說：「為什麼他該死﹖他作了什麼事﹖」
“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
33 撒烏耳就舉起槍來要刺死他，約納堂便明白他父親已決意要殺達味。
Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
34 約納堂就起來，氣憤憤地離開了筳席；初二那天，也沒有吃飯，因為他為達味擔憂，又因為他父親辱罵了自己。
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 次日清晨，約納堂按照他與達味的約會，往田間去了；有個童僕跟隨著他。
In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.
36 他對那童僕說：「跑去，找所放的箭! 」童僕往前跑時，他又向前放了一箭。
He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
37 當僮僕來到約納堂所射到的地方，約納堂就在僮後面喊說：「箭不是在你前面嗎﹖」
When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
38 約納堂又在僮僕後面喊說：「趕快跑去，不要站住! 」約納堂的僮僕就拾了箭，給主人拿來。
Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
39 那僮僕卻不知道是意思，只有約納堂和達味知道。
But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
40 然後約納堂把自己的武器交給他的僕僮，向他說：「帶回城去吧! 」
Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
41 僮僕走後，達味就為不堆旁起來，俯伏在地，拜了三拜；以後他們彼此相吻，二人相抱對泣，達味哭得更甚。
When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.
42 最後，約納堂對達味說：「你平安去吧! 照我們兩人以上主的名所起的誓：願上主永遠在我和你之間，在我的後代與你的後代之間! 」 達味就動身走了，約納堂也回到城裏﹖
And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
