撒母耳記下 17
1 阿希托費耳向說：「讓我選拔一萬二千人，今夜起程去追趕達味。
Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me take out twelve thousand men and this very night I will go after David:
2 正當他困乏疲倦時，我忽然趕到，使他驚惶失措，隨從他的人，必會逃散，我只把君王一人殺了，
And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:
3 然後人民來歸順你，像新娘回到新郎那裏；你只須害一人的性命，全民眾就都和平無事了」。
And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.
4 阿貝沙隆和以色列的眾長老，對這提議都很贊成。
And the saying was pleasing to Absalom and to the responsible men of Israel.
5 阿貝沙隆說：「讓把阿爾基人胡瑟召來，我們也願聽聽他說什麼」。
Then Absalom said, Now send for Hushai the Archite, and let us give ear to what he has to say.
6 胡瑟來到阿貝沙隆前，阿貝沙隆向他說：「阿希托費耳說出這樣的話，我們應按他的主意去行嗎﹖請你提議吧! 」
And when Hushai came, Absalom said to him, This is what Ahithophel has said: are we to do as he says? if not, what is your suggestion?
7 胡瑟回答阿貝沙隆說：「阿希托費耳這次所出的計謀卻是不妙」。
And Hushai said to Absalom, Ahithophel's idea is not a good one at this time.
8 胡瑟接著說：「你知道你父親和隨從他的人，都是勇將，現在心情惱怒，好像田野間喪子的母熊；何況，你父親又是歷戰陣的人，夜間決不會讓軍民安睡。
Hushai said further, You have knowledge of your father and his men, that they are men of war, and that their feelings are bitter, like those of a bear in the field whose young ones have been taken from her: and your father is a man of war, and will not take his night's rest with the people;
9 他現在必藏在一個山洞裏，或另一個地方；若起初我們的人就有傷亡，人們聽見必要說：跟隨阿貝沙隆的人，慘遭失敗；
But he will certainly have taken cover now in some hole or secret place; and if some of our people, at the first attack, are overcome, then any hearing of it will say, There is destruction among the people who are on Absalom's side.
10 那麼，連性情兇猛如獅子的壯士，也要灰心喪膽，因為全以色列人都知道你父親是個勇將，跟隨他的人，也都是驍勇的人。
Then even the strongest, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will become like water; for all Israel is conscious that your father is a man of war, and those who are with him are strong and without fear.
11 我的計劃，是先把所有的以色列人集合在你身邊，從丹直到貝爾舍巴，像海邊沙粒那樣多，然後由你親自率領，前去征討；
But my suggestion is that all Israel, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, comes together to you, a great army like the sands of the sea in number; and that you yourself go out among them.
12 他不論到那裏，我們也突然到那裏；像露一樣襲擊他，使他和跟隨他的人一個也不留下。
Then we will come on him in some place, wherever he may be, falling on him as the dew comes on the earth: and of him and all the men who are with him not one will get away with his life.
13 若他退入一座城內，全以色列就帶著繩索去攻擊那城，將那城拉到山谷裏，連一塊小石也不剩下」。
And if he has gone into some town, then let all Israel take strong cords to that town, and we will have it pulled into the valley, till not one small stone is to be seen there.
14 阿貝沙隆和全以色列人都說：「阿爾基人胡瑟的計謀比阿希托費耳的更為可取」。原是上主決定了要破壞阿希托費耳是好計謀，為給阿彼瑟降下災禍。
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.
15 隨後，胡瑟報告匝多克和厄貝雅塔爾說：「阿希托費耳給阿貝沙隆和以色列長老出了那樣的計謀，我卻出了這樣的計謀。
Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, This is the suggestion made by Ahithophel to Absalom and the responsible men of Israel, and this is what I said to them.
16 現在，快派人去報告達味說：今夜不可在曠野的渡口露宿，要趕快過河，免得君王和隨從他的人民都遭殲滅」。
So now send the news quickly to David, and say, Do not take your night's rest by the way across the river to the waste land, but be certain to go over; or the king and all the people with him will come to destruction.
17 那時，約納堂和阿希瑪茲已在洛革泉傍等候，因怕被人看見，不敢進城；有個使女出來給他們傳信，他們就去報告達味君王。
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a servant-girl went from time to time and gave them news and they went with the news to King David, for it was not wise for them to let themselves be seen coming into the town.
18 但有一個少年人看見了他們，便向阿貝沙隆報告了；他們二人就急速逃匿，來到巴胡陵的一個人家裏，他院子裏有一口井，他們便下到井裏。
But a boy saw them, and gave word of it to Absalom: so the two of them went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a water-hole in his garden, and they went down into it.
19 那家的婦女取了一個蓋子蓋在井口上，蓋子上又撒了些麥粒，免得有人注意。
And a woman put a cover over the hole, and put crushed grain on top of it, and no one had any knowledge of it.
20 阿貝沙隆的差役來到那家的婦女前問說：「阿希瑪茲和約納堂在哪裏﹖那婦女答說：「他們早過了蓄水池」。差役就去搜索他們，卻沒有找著，便回了耶路撒冷。
And Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone from here to the stream. And after searching for them, and seeing nothing of them, they went back to Jerusalem.
21 差役走了以後，兩人就為井裏上來；去給達味君王報信，對達味說：「起身，趕快過河，因為阿希托費耳為害你們出了這樣的計謀」。
Then after the servants had gone away, they came up out of the water-hole and went to give King David the news; and they said, Get up and go quickly over the water, for such and such are Ahithophel's designs against you.
22 達味和隨從他的人就起身過了約旦河。到天亮時，沒有一個沒有過約旦河的。
So David and all the people who were with him went up over Jordan: when dawn came, every one of them had gone over Jordan.
23 阿希托費耳看見人不依從他的計謀，就備上驢，動身回家，回了本城，安排了自己的家務以後，就上吊死了。人將他埋在他父親的墳墓裏。
Now when Ahithophel saw that his suggestion was not acted on, he got his ass ready, and went back to his house, to the town where he came from, and having put his house in order, he put himself to death by hanging; so he came to his end and was put in the resting-place of his father.
24 阿貝沙隆率領以色列人過約旦河時，達味已到了瑪哈納因。
And David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom, with all the men of Israel, went over Jordan.
25 阿貝沙隆派阿瑪撒代約阿布為統帥。阿瑪撒是依市瑪耳人依特辣的兒子。依特辣曾走近過葉瑟的女兒，約阿布的母親，責魯雅的姐妹阿彼蓋耳。
And Absalom put Amasa at the head of the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had been the lover of Abigail, the daughter of Jesse, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
26 以色列人同阿貝沙隆在基肋阿得一帶紮了營。
And Israel and Absalom put up their tents in the land of Gilead.
27 當達味來到瑪哈納因時，納哈士的兒子芍彼，由阿孟人民的辣巴城，阿米爾的兒子瑪基爾由羅德巴爾城，基肋阿得人巴爾齊來由洛革林城，
Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, the Ammonite, and Machir, the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
28 帶來了床、鋪蓋、杯盤、炊具、小麥、麵粉、炒麥、豆子、扁豆、
Came with beds and basins and pots, and grain and meal, and all sorts of dry foods,
29 蜂蜜、奶油、奶餅、牛肉和羊肉，供給達味和他的的人吃用，因為他們想：這些人經過了曠野，必定感到飢餓和疲勞。
And honey and butter and sheep and milk-cheeses, for David and his people: for they said, This people is in the waste land, needing food and drink and rest.
