< Samuel 2 14 >
1 Esi Aʋafia Yoab kpɔ be David di vevie be yeagakpɔ Absalom la,
And Joab son of Zeruial knows that the heart of the king [is] on Absalom,
2 eɖo du ɖe nyɔnu nyanu aɖe si nɔ Tekoa. Esi nyɔnu la va la, Yoab gblɔ nɛ be, “Wɔ abe ɖe nèle konyi fam ene eye nàta funyivɔ. Mègavu ɖa o; wɔ ɖokuiwò abe nyɔnu si le fu nyim ɣeyiɣi didi aɖe ene.
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 Ekema nàyi fia la gbɔ eye nàgblɔ nu si magblɔ na wò be nàgblɔ la nɛ.”
and you have gone to the king, and spoken to him, according to this word”; and Joab puts the words into her mouth.
4 Esi nyɔnu la ɖo fia la gbɔ la, emlɔ anyigba, tsyɔ mo anyi le fia la ŋkume eye wòdo ɣli be, “Oo, fia, nyo nam!”
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 Fia la biae be, “Nu kae le fu ɖem na wò.” Eɖo eŋu be, “Ahosie menye, srɔ̃nye ku.
And the king says to her, “What do you [want]?” And she says, “I [am] truly a widow woman, and my husband dies,
6 Viŋutsu eve nɔ nye, wò dɔla si. Wowɔ avu kple wo nɔewo le gbedzi; ame aɖeke menɔ afi ma alé avu wo o. Ale ɖeka wu nɔvia.
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 Azɔ la, ƒometɔ mamlɛawo le biabiam be maɖe asi le esi wu nɔvia la ŋu ne woawu eya hã le ale si wòwu nɔvia la ta. Ne mewɔ woƒe gbe dzi la, viŋutsu aɖeke maganɔ asinye o, ekema srɔ̃nye ƒe ŋkɔ abu le anyigba dzi.”
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 Fia la gblɔ nɛ be, “Gblẽ nya sia ɖe nye asi me; makpɔ egbɔ be ame aɖeke maka asi viwò ŋutsu la ŋu o.”
And the king says to the woman, “Go to your house, and I give charge concerning you.”
9 Tekoa nyɔnu la gblɔ nɛ be, “Oo, nye aƒetɔ, meda akpe na wò; ne woaxa wò be nèkpe ɖe ŋunye alea la, maxɔ nya la ɖe ɖokuinye dzi.”
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 Fia la yi edzi be, “Mègatsi dzi le akpa ma ŋu o. Ne ame aɖe melɔ̃ ɖe edzi o la, kplɔe vɛ nam. Meka ɖe edzi na wò be magagblɔ nya aɖeke o!”
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 Nyɔnu la gblɔ na David be, “Meɖe kuku, tsɔ Yehowa, wò Mawu, ka atam nam be, yemaɖe mɔ ame aɖeke nawɔ nuvevi vinye la o. Nyemedi be woagakɔ ʋu bubu aɖeke ɖi o.” David ɖo eŋu be, “Metsɔ Yehowa ka atam na wò bena ame aɖeke manyɔ viwò la ƒe taɖa ɖeka pɛ gɔ̃ hã o!”
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 Nyɔnu la yi edzi be “Meɖe kuku, na magabia nu ɖeka wò, nye aƒetɔ fia la!” David gblɔ nɛ be, “Bia faa!”
And the woman says, “Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king”; and he says, “Speak.”
13 Nyɔnu la gblɔ be, “Ekema nu ka ta nèɖo nu sia tsitre ɖe Mawu ƒe amewo ŋuti? Elabena le nyametsotso si nèna nu la, fia la bu fɔ eɖokui le esime megbugbɔ via si wònya de gbe la va aƒee o.
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 Mí katã míele kuku ge, mlɔeba la míaƒe agbe le abe tsi si wotrɔ kɔ ɖe anyigba ene, womagate ŋu aklui o. Ke Mawu ayra wò kple agbe didi wu, ne àto mɔ aɖe nu ana viwò Absalom nagbɔ va aƒe.
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 “Eya ta meva be magblɔ nya sia na nye aƒetɔ, fia la elabena ameawo le vɔvɔ̃ dom nam. Wò subɔla bu be, ‘Maƒo nu kple fia la kpɔ; ɖewohĩ awɔ nu si eƒe subɔla la abia.
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 Ɖewohĩ fia la alɔ̃ be yeaɖe eƒe subɔla tso ame si le didim be yeana be nye kple vinye míaxɔ domenyinu si Mawu na mí o la si me.’
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 “Ɛ̃, fia la agana eƒe asimeŋutifafa mí. Menya be èle abe mawudɔla ene eye ètea ŋu dzea si nyui tso vɔ̃ gbɔ. Yehowa, wò Mawu, nanɔ kpli wò.”
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 Fia la gblɔ be, “Medi be manya nu ɖeka.” Nyɔnu la biae be, “Nye aƒetɔ, nu kae?”
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 Fia la yi edzi be, “Yoab ye nye ame si dɔ wò ɖe afi sia?” Nyɔnu la ɖo eŋu be, “Nye aƒetɔ fia, aleke mate ŋu agblɔ be menye eyae o? Ɛ̃, Yoab ye dɔm ɖa eye wògblɔ nu si magblɔ na wò la nam.
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 Ewɔ nu sia, ale be yeatsɔ nya la aɖo wò ŋkume to mɔ bubu dzi. Ke wò nye aƒetɔ, ènyaa nu abe mawudɔla ene eye nènya nu sia nu si dzɔna!”
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 Ale David yɔ Yoab eye wògblɔ nɛ be, “Enyo, yi nàkplɔ Absalom vɛ.”
And the king says to Joab, “Now behold, you have done this thing; and go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Yoab mlɔ anyigba le fia la ŋkume eye wòyra fia la hegblɔ be, “Nye aƒetɔ fia, egbe nye wò dɔla medze sii mlɔeba be èlɔ̃m elabena èlɔ̃ ɖe nu si mebia wò la dzi!”
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 Ale Yoab yi Gesur eye wòkplɔ Absalom gbɔ va Yerusalem.
And Joab rises and goes to Geshur, and brings in Absalom to Jerusalem,
24 Fia David de se be, “Absalom ate ŋu ayi eya ŋutɔ ƒe nɔƒe le fiasã sia me gake mekpɔ mɔ ado ɖe nye ŋkume le afi sia gbeɖe o. Nyemedi be makpɔe kura o!”
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 Ame aɖeke medze ɖeka le Israelnyigba dzi abe Absalom ene o eye womekafua ame bubu aɖeke hã nenema abe eya ene o.
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 Ekoa eƒe taɖa zi ɖeka pɛ ko le ƒe blibo ɖeka me. Nu si ta ko wòkonɛ zi ɖeka ma hãe nye be taɖa la tona ʋutuu, eye ne edae la ekpena kilogram etɔ̃ sɔŋ eye wòkpena le ta nɛ akpa.
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 Viŋutsu etɔ̃ kple vinyɔnu ɖeka, Tamar, ame si dze tugbe ŋutɔ la nɔ Absalom si.
And there are born to Absalom three sons and one daughter, and her name [is] Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.
28 Absalom nɔ Yerusalem ƒe eve eye mekpɔ fia la o.
And Absalom dwells in Jerusalem [for] two years of days, and he has not seen the face of the king;
29 Eɖo du ɖe Yoab be wòava aɖe kuku na ye fofo na ye gake Yoab gbe meyi o. Absalom gaɖo du ɖee zi evelia eye wògagbe yiyi.
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 Ale Absalom ɖe gbe na eƒe subɔlawo be, “Miyi miatɔ dzo Yoab ƒe lugble si le tɔnye xa” eye woyi ɖatɔ dzoe.
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 Yoab yi Absalom gbɔ eye wòbiae be, “Nu ka ta wò subɔlawo tɔ dzo nye lugble ɖo?”
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 Absalom ɖo eŋu be, “Elabena medi be nàbia fia la nam be, nu ka ta wòkplɔm gbɔe tso Gesur ne medi be yeakpɔm o? Anye ne manɔ afi ma hafi. Na maƒo nu kple fia la eye ne ekpɔ be mewu ame la, wòawum.”
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 Yoab gblɔ nya si Absalom gblɔ la na fia la eye David yɔ Absalom mlɔeba. Eva, de ta agu na fia la eye wòkpla asi kɔ nɛ.
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.