撒母耳记下 14
1 洗鲁雅的儿子约押，知道王心里想念押沙龙，
Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
2 就打发人往提哥亚去，从那里叫了一个聪明的妇人来，对她说：“请你假装居丧的，穿上孝衣，不要用膏抹身，要装作为死者许久悲哀的妇人；
So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.
3 进去见王，对王如此如此说。”于是约押将当说的话教导了妇人。
Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 提哥亚妇人到王面前，伏地叩拜，说：“王啊，求你拯救！”
When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”
5 王问她说：“你有什么事呢？”回答说：“婢女实在是寡妇，我丈夫死了。
“What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
6 我有两个儿子，一日在田间争斗，没有人解劝，这个就打死那个。
And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
7 现在全家的人都起来攻击婢女，说：‘你将那打死兄弟的交出来，我们好治死他，偿他打死兄弟的命，灭绝那承受家业的。’这样，他们要将我剩下的炭火灭尽，不与我丈夫留名留后在世上。”
Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”
8 王对妇人说：“你回家去吧！我必为你下令。”
“Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”
9 提哥亚妇人又对王说：“我主我王，愿这罪归我和我父家，与王和王的位无干。”
But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
10 王说：“凡难为你的，你就带他到我这里来，他必不再搅扰你。”
“If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”
11 妇人说：“愿王记念耶和华—你的 神，不许报血仇的人施行灭绝，恐怕他们灭绝我的儿子。”王说：“我指着永生的耶和华起誓：你的儿子连一根头发也不致落在地上。”
“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12 妇人说：“求我主我王容婢女再说一句话。”王说：“你说吧！”
Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.
13 妇人说：“王为何也起意要害 神的民呢？王不使那逃亡的人回来，王的这话就是自证己错了！
The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son?
14 我们都是必死的，如同水泼在地上，不能收回。 神并不夺取人的性命，乃设法使逃亡的人不致成为赶出、回不来的。
For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
15 我来将这话告诉我主我王，是因百姓使我惧怕。婢女想，不如将这话告诉王，或者王成就婢女所求的。
Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant.
16 人要将我和我儿子从 神的地业上一同除灭，王必应允救我脱离他的手。
For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’
17 婢女又想，我主我王的话必安慰我；因为我主我王能辨别是非，如同 神的使者一样。惟愿耶和华—你的 神与你同在！”
And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”
18 王对妇人说：“我要问你一句话，你一点不要瞒我。”妇人说：“愿我主我王说。”
Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!” “Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.
19 王说：“你这些话莫非是约押的主意吗？”妇人说：“我敢在我主我王面前起誓：王的话正对，不偏左右，是王的仆人约押吩咐我的，这些话是他教导我的。
So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.
20 王的仆人约押如此行，为要挽回这事。我主的智慧却如 神使者的智慧，能知世上一切事。”
Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”
21 王对约押说：“我应允你这事。你可以去，把那少年人押沙龙带回来。”
Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 约押就面伏于地叩拜，祝谢于王，又说：“王既应允仆人所求的，仆人今日知道在我主我王眼前蒙恩了。”
Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”
23 于是约押起身往基述去，将押沙龙带回耶路撒冷。
So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 王说：“使他回自己家里去，不要见我的面。”押沙龙就回自己家里去，没有见王的面。
But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the king.
25 以色列全地之中，无人像押沙龙那样俊美，得人的称赞，从脚底到头顶毫无瑕疵。
Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.
26 他的头发甚重，每到年底剪发一次；所剪下来的，按王的平称一称，重二百舍客勒。
And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
27 押沙龙生了三个儿子，一个女儿。女儿名叫她玛，是个容貌俊美的女子。
Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
28 押沙龙住在耶路撒冷足有二年，没有见王的面。
Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.
29 押沙龙打发人去叫约押来，要托他去见王，约押却不肯来。第二次打发人去叫他，他仍不肯来。
Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.
30 所以押沙龙对仆人说：“你们看，约押有一块田，与我的田相近，其中有大麦，你们去放火烧了。”押沙龙的仆人就去放火烧了那田。
Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 于是约押起来，到了押沙龙家里，问他说：“你的仆人为何放火烧了我的田呢？”
Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 押沙龙回答约押说：“我打发人去请你来，好托你去见王，替我说：‘我为何从基述回来呢？不如仍在那里。’现在要许我见王的面；我若有罪，任凭王杀我就是了。”
“Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”
33 于是约押去见王，将这话奏告王，王便叫押沙龙来。押沙龙来见王，在王面前俯伏于地，王就与押沙龙亲嘴。
So Joab went and told the king, and David summoned Absalom, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.
