撒母耳記下 14
1 責魯雅的兒子約阿布看透了君王懷念阿貝沙隆的心，
And Joab son of Zeruial knows that the heart of the king [is] on Absalom,
2 就派人到特科亞去，從那裏叫來一位明智的婦人，對她說：「請妳裝作一個居喪的婦心，穿上喪服，別抹油，像一個居喪很多自己婦人，
and Joab sends to Tekoah, and takes a wise woman from there, and says to her, “Please feign yourself a mourner, and now put on garments of mourning, and do not anoint yourself with oil, and you have been as a woman mourning for the dead [for] these many days,
3 然後去見君王，對他這樣這樣說....」約阿布就把要說的話，口授給她。
and you have gone to the king, and spoken to him, according to this word”; and Joab puts the words into her mouth.
4 科特亞的婦人一來到君王前，便俯伏在地，叩拜喊說：「大王，救命! 」
And the woman of Tekoah speaks to the king, and falls on her face to the earth, and pays respect, and says, “Save, O king.”
5 君王對她說：「妳有什麼事﹖「她答說：「哎! 我是個寡婦，我的丈夫死了。
And the king says to her, “What do you [want]?” And she says, “I [am] truly a widow woman, and my husband dies,
6 你的婢女有兩個兒子，他們倆在田野裏爭鬥，無人解勸，彼此對打，竟將一個打死了。
and your maidservant has two sons; and both of them strive in a field, and there is no deliverer between them, and one strikes the other, and puts him to death;
7 全族的人都起來反對你的婢女說：將那打死自己兄弟的交出來，讓我們殺了他，抵償他所殺的兄弟的命，既便是後嗣，我們也要消滅。這樣，他們連我所剩下的一星之火，也要熄滅，不讓我的丈夫在世上留名，或者留後」。
and behold, the whole family has risen against your maidservant, and say, Give up him who strikes his brother, and we put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has slain, and we also destroy the heir; and they have quenched my coal which is left—so as not to set a name and remnant on the face of the ground for my husband.”
8 執行對婦人說：「妳回家去吧! 我會為妳下令查辦」。
And the king says to the woman, “Go to your house, and I give charge concerning you.”
9 特科亞的婦人立即對君王說：「我主，大王! 願此罪歸於我及我父家，與大王，與陛下無干」。
And the woman of Tekoah says to the king, “On me, my lord, O king, [is] the iniquity, and on the house of my father; and the king and his throne [are] innocent.”
10 君王說：「凡向妳再出言恐嚇的，你把他帶到我這裏來，誰也不敢再麻煩妳了」。
And the king says, “He who speaks to you, and you have brought him to me, then he does not add to come against you anymore.”
11 她繼續說：「望大王提及上主你的天主名，不許報復血仇的人再從事破壞，不將我的兒子消滅」。他答說：「我指著永生的上主起誓：妳兒子的一根頭髮，也決不會落在地上」。
And she says, “Please let the king remember by your God YHWH, that the redeemer of blood does not add to destroy, and they do not destroy my son”; and he says, “YHWH lives; if there falls [even one] hair of your son to the earth.”
12 婦人接著說：「望我主大王，許你的婢女再進一言! 」他答說：「說吧! 」
And the woman says, “Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king”; and he says, “Speak.”
13 婦人說：「為什麼大王想出這樣的事來，反對天主的百姓。君王說出這話，若不將自己放逐的人召回來，就不免有罪了!
And the woman says, “And why have you thought thus concerning the people of God? Indeed, the king is speaking this thing as a guilty one, in that the king has not brought back his outcast;
14 我們原來都該死，如同潑在地, 上的水，不能再收回，天主也不再給人生命；所以大王要設法不使那放逐的人，成為一個永不能再回家的人。
for we surely die, and [are] as water which is running down to the earth, which is not gathered, and God does not accept a person, and has devised plans in that the outcast is not outcast by Him.
15 我現今到這裏來，向我主大王提及此事，是因為有些人恐嚇我，為此你的婢女想：我得向君王說明，也許君王會實踐他婢女的請求。
And now that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, [it is] because the people made me afraid, and your maidservant says, Please let me speak to the king; it may be the king does the word of his handmaid,
16 因為大王必會聽從我，從那由天主產業中剷除和我兒子之人的手中，救出自己的婢女來。
for the king listens to deliver his handmaid out of the paw of the man [seeking] to destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God,
17 所以你的婢女說：我主大王的話，實能安慰人心，因為我主大王對於分辨善惡，實如同天主的使者。望上主你的天主，與你同在! 」
and your maidservant says, Please let the word of my lord the king be for ease; for as a messenger of God so [is] my lord the king, to understand the good and the evil; and your God YHWH is with you.”
18 君王回答婦人說：「我有一事問妳，妳可不要對我隱瞞」。婦人答說：「我主大王，請說! 」
And the king answers and says to the woman, “Please do not hide from me the thing that I am asking you”; and the woman says, “Please let my lord the king speak.”
19 君王問說：「在這一切事上，是不是約阿布的手在妳後面﹖」婦人答說：「我一王萬歲! 我主君王所說的，絲毫不差，正是你的僕人約阿布吩咐了我，是他將這一切話，口授給你的婢女。
And the king says, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answers and says, “Your soul lives, my lord, O king, none [turn] to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant.
20 事實改變真相的，確是你的僕人約阿布所做的；但是我主賢明，賢明得如同天主的使者，曉得地上所有的事」。
Your servant Joab has done this thing in order to bring around the appearance of the thing, and my lord [is] wise, according to the wisdom of a messenger of God, to know all that [is] in the land.”
21 王便對約阿布說：「好，現在我就履行此事，召回孩子阿貝沙隆來! 」
And the king says to Joab, “Now behold, you have done this thing; and go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 約阿布就俯首至地，叩拜祝福君王，隨後說：「我主大王，今天今日你的僕人知道，我在你眼前蒙得了寵幸，因為大王實踐了他僕人的請求」。
And Joab falls on his face to the earth, and pays respect, and blesses the king, and Joab says, “Today your servant has known that I have found grace in your eyes, my lord, O king, in that the king has done the word of his servant.”
23 約阿布就起身，往革叔爾去，將阿貝沙隆領回耶路撒冷。
And Joab rises and goes to Geshur, and brings in Absalom to Jerusalem,
24 君王說：「叫他回自己家裏去吧! 不要來見我」。於是阿貝沙隆回到自己家裏，不是見君王的面。
and the king says, “Let him turn around to his house, and he does not see my face.” And Absalom turns around to his house, and he has not seen the face of the king.
25 在全以色列中，沒有一人像阿貝沙隆那樣英俊，堪受讚美的，在他身上，自踵至頂，沒有一默缺陷。
And there was no man [so] beautiful in all Israel like Absalom, to praise greatly; from the sole of his foot even to his crown there was no blemish in him;
26 他剪髮以後，──他每年年底剪髮一次，因為頭上積髮太多，他必須剪去，──稱了稱剪的頭髮，依王家的衡制，重二百「協刻耳」。
and in his shaving his head—and it has been at the end of year by year that he shaves [it], for it [is] heavy on him, and he has shaved it—he has even weighed out the hair of his head—two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.
27 阿貝沙隆有三個兒子，一個女兒；女兒名叫塔瑪爾，是個很美麗的女子。
And there are born to Absalom three sons and one daughter, and her name [is] Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.
28 阿貝沙隆在耶路撒冷住了兩年，仍未得見君王的面。
And Absalom dwells in Jerusalem [for] two years of days, and he has not seen the face of the king;
29 阿貝沙隆遂派人到約阿布那裏，求他引自己去見君王。但是，約阿布不願到他那裏去，他又派人去，他仍是不肯來。
and Absalom sends to Joab, to send him to the king, and he has not been willing to come to him; and he sends again a second time, and he has not been willing to come.
30 他於是對的僕人說：「你們看，約阿布的莊田與我的相接，他在那裏種了大麥，你們去放火燒田」。阿貝沙隆的僕人於是放火燒了田。
And he says to his servants, “See, the portion of Joab [is] by the side of mine, and he has barley there; go and burn it with fire”; and the servants of Absalom burn the portion with fire.
31 約阿布就起身來到阿貝沙隆的家裡，對他說：「你的僕人為什麼燒了我的田？」
And Joab rises and comes to Absalom in the house, and says to him, “Why have your servants burned the portion that I have with fire?”
32 阿貝沙隆回答約阿布說：「看，我派人到你那裡說：請你到我這裡來，我願派你去見君王，問他為什麼叫我從革叔爾回來？假如我仍留在那裡，為我豈不更好！如今我願見君王的面，我若有罪，他可殺我！」
And Absalom says to Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, and I send you to the king to say, Why have I come in from Geshur? [It was] good for me while I [was] there—and now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me then you have put me to death.”
33 約阿布便去見君王，稟告了這些話。王遂召見阿貝沙隆；他來到君王前，俯首至地，叩拜君王；君王就吻了阿貝沙隆。
And Joab comes to the king, and declares [it] to him, and he calls to Absalom, and he comes to the king, and bows himself to him, on his face, to the earth, before the king, and the king gives a kiss to Absalom.
