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 desired to see 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 word to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought to him. He said to her, “Please pretend you are a mourner and put on mourning clothes. Please do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead.
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 to him about what I will describe.” So Joab told her the words she was to say to the king.
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 spoke to the king, she lay facedown on the ground and said, “Help me, 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。
The king said to her, “What is wrong?” She answered, “The truth is that I am a widow, and 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。
I, your servant, had two sons, and they fought together in the field, and there was no one to separate them. 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 against your servant, and they say, 'Give into our hand the man who struck his brother, so that we may put him to death, to pay for the life of his brother whom he killed.' So they would also destroy the heir. Thus they will put out the burning coal that I have left, and they will leave for my husband neither name nor descendant on the surface of the earth.”
8 王对妇人说：“你回家去吧！我必为你下令。”
So the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will command something to be done for you.”
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。”
The woman of Tekoa replied to the king, “My master, king, may the guilt be on me and on my father's family. The king and his throne are 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。”
The king replied, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.”
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。”
Then she said, “Please, may the king call to mind Yahweh your God, so that the avenger of blood will not destroy anyone further, so that they will not destroy my son.” The king replied, “As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son 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 let your servant speak a further word to my master the king.” He said, “Speak on.”
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！
So the woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in saying this thing, the king is like someone who is guilty, because the king has not brought back home again his 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 we all must die, and we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life; instead, he finds a way for those who were driven away to be restored.
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 then, seeing that I have come to speak this thing to my master the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. So your servant said to herself, 'I will now speak to the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.
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。
Perhaps the king will listen to me and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together, out of the inheritance God gave us.'
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！”
Then your servant prayed, 'Yahweh, please let the word of my master the king give me relief, for as an angel of God, so is my master the king in telling good from evil.' May Yahweh 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 answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me anything that I will ask you.” The woman replied, “Let my master the king now speak.”
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。
The king said, “Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered and said, “As you live, my master the king, no one can escape to the right hand or to the left from anything that my master the king has spoken. It was your servant Joab who commanded me and told me to say these things that your servant has spoken.
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。”
Your servant Joab has done this to change the course of what is happening. My master is wise, like the wisdom of an angel of God, and he knows everything that is happening 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。”
So the king said to Joab, “Look now, I will do this thing. Go then, and bring the young man Absalom back.”
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。”
So Joab lay facedown on the ground in honor and gratitude to the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my master, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.”
23 于是约押起身往基述去，将押沙龙带回耶路撒冷。
So Joab arose, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom back 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。
The king said, “He may return to his own house, but he may not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the king's face.
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 in all Israel there was no one praised for his handsomeness more than Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him.
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。
When he cut the hair of his head at the end of every year, because it was heavy on him, he weighed his hair; it would weigh about two hundred shekels, which is measured by the weight of the king's 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。
To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.
28 押沙龙住在耶路撒冷足有二年，没有见王的面。
Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, without seeing the king's face.
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 Absalom sent word for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. So Absalom sent word a second time, but Joab still did 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。
So Absalom said to his servants, “See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So 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 arose and came to Absalom at his house, and said to him, “Why have 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。”
Absalom answered Joab, “Look, I sent word to you saying, 'Come here so I may send you to the king to say, “Why did I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to still be there. Now therefore let me see the king's face, and if I am guilty, 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 to the king and told him. When the king called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed low to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.
