< 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。
Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night;
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 upon him while he [is] weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that [are] with him shall flee; and I will smite 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 bring back all the people to thee: the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.
And the saying, pleased Absalom well, and all the elders 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 said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
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 had come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? if not, speak thou.
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, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given, [is] not good 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。
For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they [are] mighty men, and they [are] chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father [is] a man of war, and will not lodge 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;
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will come to pass, when some of them [are] overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
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。
And he also [that is] valiant, whose heart [is] as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father [is] a mighty man, and [they] who [are] with him [are] valiant men.
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;
Therefore I counsel that all Israel should be generally gathered to thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that thou shouldst go to battle in thy own person.
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。
So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that [are] with him there shall not be left so much as one.
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」。
Moreover, if he shall have entered into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there is not one small stone found 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。
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon 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 said Hushai to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.
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」。
Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that [are] with him.
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 stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a maid servant went and told them; and they went and told king David.
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。
Nevertheless, a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; into which they descended.
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 the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn upon it; and the thing was not known.
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 when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where [is] Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, they have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find [them], they returned 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」。
And it came to pass, after they had departed, that they came out of the well, and went and told king David, and said to David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counseled 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。
Then David arose, and all the people that [were] with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that had not 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。
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled [his] ass, and arose, and went home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died. and was buried in the sepulcher 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。
Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
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 made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa [was] a man's son, whose name [was] Ithra, an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
So Israel and Absalom encamped 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,
And it came to pass, when David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, 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、
Brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched [corn], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse],
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 cheese of cows, for David, and for the people that [were] with him, to eat: for they said, The people [are] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.