2 Samuel 14

1 Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.

1 洗鲁雅的儿子约押知道王想念押沙龙，

2 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.

2 就派人到提哥亚去召来一个聪明的妇人，对她说：“你假扮哀悼的人，穿上丧服，不要用油抹身，要装成为死者哀悼很久的妇人，

3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.

3 然后到王那里，对他这样这样说。”约押把应该说的话都告诉妇人。

4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”

4 提哥亚妇人来到王面前，俯伏在地上说：“王啊，求你救救我吧！”

5 “What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.

5 王问她：“你有什么事？”妇人说：“婢女是个寡妇，丈夫死了。

6 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.

6 我本来有两个儿子，有一次他们在田间发生争执，当时没有人劝解，其中一个儿子被打死了。

7 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.”

7 现在整个家族都起来反对婢女，说，‘把那打死亲兄弟的凶手交出来，我们要他以命偿命，除掉这个继承人。’他们要让我家断子绝孙，使婢女的丈夫既不能留名，也不能留后。”

8 “Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”

8 王说：“你回家去吧！我会为你作主。”

9 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.”

9 提哥亚妇人说：“我主我王，愿罪过 都落在婢女和婢女家族，跟王和王位无关。”

10 “If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”

10 王说：“若有人为难你，你就把他带来，他必不敢再找你的麻烦。”

11 “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.”

11 妇人说：“求王凭你的上帝耶和华起誓，不许报血仇者杀人，留我儿一命。”王说：“我凭永活的耶和华起誓，你的儿子必毫发无损。”

12 Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.

12 妇人说：“求我主我王再容婢女说一句。”王说：“说吧！”

13 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?

13 妇人说：“王怎么想出这样的事来针对上帝的子民呢？王刚才所说的话正表明王的不是了，因为王不让被流放的儿子回来。

14 For we will surely 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.

14 人都难免一死，就像覆水难收。然而，上帝不是要夺取人的性命，而是要设法使流亡的人重新回来。

15 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.

15 我向我主我王说出这番话，是因为人们恐吓我。我想，不如向王请命，也许王会成全婢女的心愿。

16 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.’

16 有人要害我和我儿子的性命，叫我们不得承受上帝所赐的产业，也许王能从这人手中救我们。

17 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.’”

17 婢女想，我主我王的话必能安慰我，因为我主我王就像上帝的天使一样能明辨是非。愿王的上帝耶和华常与王同在！”

18 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.

18 王对妇人说：“我有一件事要问你，你要实实在在地回答我。”妇人说：“我主我王请说。”

19 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.

19 王说：“这是不是约押的主意？”妇人说：“我凭我主我王的性命起誓，王所说的一点不错，这些话是你臣仆约押吩咐婢女说的。

20 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.”

20 他这样做是希望扭转局面。我主如上帝的天使一样有智慧，洞悉天下之事。”

21 Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”

21 于是，王对约押说：“我答应你的请求，你去把年轻的押沙龙带回来吧。”

22 Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”

22 约押俯伏在地，叩谢王恩，说：“今天仆人在我主我王面前蒙了恩，因为王应允了仆人的请求。”

23 So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

23 约押便到基述把押沙龙接回耶路撒冷。

24 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 face of the king.

24 王说：“让押沙龙回自己的家，不要让他来见我！”押沙龙便返回自己家中，没有朝见王。

25 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.

25 在整个以色列，没有人像押沙龙那样因相貌英俊而为人称道，他从头到脚毫无瑕疵。

26 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.

26 他的头发浓密，每年年终会很沉重，需要剪发，剪下的头发按王的重量标准约重两公斤。

27 Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.

27 押沙龙有三儿一女，女儿名叫她玛，长得非常美丽。

28 Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.

28 押沙龙在耶路撒冷住了两年，没有跟王见过面。

29 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.

29 他派人去请约押来，托他去求见王，但约押不肯来。第二次再请，他还是不肯来。

30 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.

30 押沙龙就吩咐仆人：“你们看，约押的田就在我的田旁边，他种了大麦，你们去放火把它烧了。”押沙龙的仆人便把麦田烧了。

31 Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”

31 约押便来到押沙龙家里，问他：“你为什么叫仆人放火烧我的田？”

32 “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.”

32 押沙龙答道：“我派人请你来，希望你替我去问王，‘我为什么要从基述回来呢？倒不如仍然留在那里。’现在我要见王，如果我有什么罪过，就让他杀了我吧！”

33 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.

33 约押就去见王，把押沙龙的话告诉他，王便召见押沙龙。押沙龙来到王面前俯首叩拜，王就亲吻他。