Ii Samuelis 14
1 Intelligens autem Joab filius Sarviæ quod cor regis versum esset ad Absalom,
When Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart longed for Absalom,
2 misit Thecuam, et tulit inde mulierem sapientem: dixitque ad eam: Lugere te simula, et induere veste lugubri, et ne ungaris oleo, ut sis quasi mulier jam plurimo tempore lugens mortuum:
he sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave as a woman who has been mourning for the dead a long time.
3 et ingredieris ad regem, et loqueris ad eum sermones hujuscemodi. Posuit autem Joab verba in ore ejus.
Go in to the king and say this to him." Then Joab told her what to say.
4 Itaque cum ingressa fuisset mulier Thecuitis ad regem, cecidit coram eo super terram, et adoravit, et dixit: Serva me, rex.
And the woman of Tekoa went to the king, and she bowed down with her face to the ground and showed respect, and said, "Help, O king."
5 Et ait ad eam rex: Quid causæ habes? Quæ respondit: Heu, mulier vidua ego sum: mortuus est enim vir meus.
And the king said to her, "What is your trouble?" And she replied, "Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
6 Et ancillæ tuæ erant duo filii: qui rixati sunt adversum se in agro, nullusque erat qui eos prohibere posset: et percussit alter alterum, et interfecit eum.
And your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
7 Et ecce consurgens universa cognatio adversum ancillam tuam, dicit: Trade eum qui percussit fratrem suum, ut occidamus eum pro anima fratris sui quem interfecit, et deleamus hæredem: et quærunt extinguere scintillam meam quæ relicta est, ut non supersit viro meo nomen, et reliquiæ super terram.
Look, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, 'Give us the man who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed.' Thus they would eliminate also the heir and the one ember I have left will be extinguished, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.
8 Et ait rex ad mulierem: Vade in domum tuam, et ego jubebo pro te.
Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to the king, my lord, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your servant said, 'I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.'
9 Dixitque mulier Thecuitis ad regem: In me, domine mi rex, sit iniquitas, et in domum patris mei: rex autem et thronus ejus sit innocens.
For the king will hear and deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who is seeking to destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of the LORD.
10 Et ait rex: Qui contradixerit tibi, adduc eum ad me, et ultra non addet ut tangat te.
Then your servant said, 'Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the LORD, your God, be with you.'"
11 Quæ ait: Recordetur rex Domini Dei sui, ut non multiplicentur proximi sanguinis ad ulciscendum, et nequaquam interficiant filium meum. Qui ait: Vivit Dominus, quia non cadet de capillis filii tui super terram.
Then the king said, "Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you."
12 Dixit ergo mulier: Loquatur ancilla tua ad dominum meum regem verbum. Et ait: Loquere.
The woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless."
13 Dixitque mulier: Quare cogitasti hujuscemodi rem contra populum Dei, et locutus est rex verbum istud, ut peccet, et non reducat ejectum suum?
The king said, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more."
14 Omnes morimur, et quasi aquæ dilabimur in terram, quæ non revertuntur: nec vult Deus perire animam, sed retractat cogitans ne penitus pereat qui abjectus est.
Then she said, "Please let the king remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son." He said, "As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."
15 Nunc igitur veni, ut loquar ad dominum meum regem verbum hoc, præsente populo. Et dixit ancilla tua: Loquar ad regem, si quomodo faciat rex verbum ancillæ suæ.
Then the woman said, "Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." He said, "Say on."
16 Et audivit rex, ut liberaret ancillam suam de manu omnium qui volebant de hæreditate Dei delere me, et filium meum simul.
The woman said, "Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of the LORD? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his exiled one.
17 Dicat ergo ancilla tua, ut fiat verbum domini mei regis sicut sacrificium. Sicut enim angelus Dei, sic est dominus meus rex, ut nec benedictione, nec maledictione moveatur: unde et Dominus Deus tuus est tecum.
For your son is dead, and as water spilled on the ground can't be gathered up again, so he can't bring his life back again. But it seems sensible to the king to keep his exiled one away from him."
18 Et respondens rex, dixit ad mulierem: Ne abscondas a me verbum quod te interrogo. Dixitque ei mulier: Loquere, domine mi rex.
Then the king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you." And the woman said, "Let my lord the king speak."
19 Et ait rex: Numquid manus Joab tecum est in omnibus istis? Respondit mulier, et ait: Per salutem animæ tuæ, domine mi rex, nec ad sinistram, nec ad dexteram est ex omnibus his quæ locutus est dominus meus rex: servus enim tuus Joab, ipse præcepit mihi, et ipse posuit in os ancillæ tuæ omnia verba hæc.
So the king said, "Did Joab put you up to all this?" The woman answered, "As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. Indeed, it was your servant Joab who had me do this, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant.
20 Ut verterem figuram sermonis hujus, servus tuus Joab præcepit istud: tu autem, domine mi rex, sapiens es, sicut habet sapientiam angelus Dei, ut intelligas omnia super terram.
Your servant Joab did this in order to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of an angel of God for knowing things in the land."
21 Et ait rex ad Joab: Ecce placatus feci verbum tuum: vade ergo, et revoca puerum Absalom.
Then the king said to Joab, "Look now, I have done according to your word. Go, bring back the young man Absalom."
22 Cadensque Joab super faciem suam in terram, adoravit, et benedixit regi: et dixit Joab: Hodie intellexit servus tuus quia inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, domine mi rex: fecisti enim sermonem servi tui.
Then Joab bowed down with his face toward the ground, and blessed the king. And Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant."
23 Surrexit ergo Joab et abiit in Gessur, et adduxit Absalom in Jerusalem.
So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 Dixit autem rex: Revertatur in domum suam, et faciem meam non videat. Reversus est itaque Absalom in domum suam, et faciem regis non vidit.
The king said, "He must return to his own house, but he must not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, and did not see the king's face.
25 Porro sicut Absalom, vir non erat pulcher in omni Israël, et decorus nimis: a vestigio pedis usque ad verticem non erat in eo ulla macula.
Moreover, Absalom – in Israel no one was so much admired as he for his fine appearance. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26 Et quando tondebat capillum (semel autem in anno tondebatur, quia gravabat eum cæsaries), ponderabat capillos capitis sui ducentis siclis, pondere publico.
When he cut the hair of his head – now it was at the end of every year that he cut it, because it became too heavy, therefore he cut it – he weighed the hair of his head at one hundred shekels by the king's weight.
27 Nati sunt autem Absalom filii tres, et filia una nomine Thamar, elegantis formæ.
To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.
28 Mansitque Absalom in Jerusalem duobus annis, et faciem regis non vidit.
Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem; and he did not see the king's face.
29 Misit itaque ad Joab, ut mitteret eum ad regem: qui noluit venire ad eum. Cumque secundo misisset, et ille noluisset venire ad eum,
Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.
30 dixit servis suis: Scitis agrum Joab juxta agrum meum, habentem messem hordei: ite igitur, et succendite eum igni. Succenderunt ergo servi Absalom segetem igni. Et venientes servi Joab, scissis vestibus suis, dixerunt: Succenderunt servi Absalom partem agri igni.
Therefore he said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." Absalom's servants set the field on fire. And the servants of Joab came to him with their clothes rent, and they said to him, "The servants of Absalom have set the field on fire."
31 Surrexitque Joab, et venit ad Absalom in domum ejus, et dixit: Quare succenderunt servi tui segetem meam igni?
Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"
32 Et respondit Absalom ad Joab: Misi ad te obsecrans ut venires ad me, et mitterem te ad regem, et diceres ei: Quare veni de Gessur? melius mihi erat ibi esse: obsecro ergo ut videam faciem regis: quod si memor est iniquitatis meæ, interficiat me.
And Absalom answered Joab, "Look, I sent to you, saying, 'Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there. Now therefore let me appear before the king. If I am guilty, put me to death.'"
33 Ingressus itaque Joab ad regem, nuntiavit ei omnia: vocatusque est Absalom, et intravit ad regem, et adoravit super faciem terræ coram eo: osculatusque est rex Absalom.
So Joab went to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom. And he came to the king and bowed himself with his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.
