14:1 洗魯雅的兒子約押，知道王心裡想念押沙龍，
14:2 就打發人往提哥亞去，從那裡叫了一個聰明的婦人來，對她說：「請你假裝居喪的，穿上孝衣，不要用膏抹身，要裝作為死者許久悲哀的婦人；
14:3 進去見王，對王如此如此說。」於是約押將當說的話教導了婦人。
14:4 提哥亞婦人到王面前，伏地叩拜，說：「王啊，求你拯救！」
14:5 王問她說：「你有甚麼事呢？」回答說：「婢女實在是寡婦，我丈夫死了。
14:6 我有兩個兒子，一日在田間爭鬥，沒有人解勸，這個就打死那個。
14:7 現在全家的人都起來攻擊婢女，說：『你將那打死兄弟的交出來，我們好治死他，償他打死兄弟的命，滅絕那承受家業的。』這樣，他們要將我剩下的炭火滅盡，不與我丈夫留名留後在世上。」
14:8 王對婦人說：「你回家去吧！我必為你下令。」
14:9 提哥亞婦人又對王說：「我主我王，願這罪歸我和我父家，與王和王的位無干。」
14:10 王說：「凡難為你的，你就帶他到我這裡來，他必不再攪擾你。」
14:11 婦人說：「願王記念耶和華─你的上帝，不許報血仇的人施行滅絕，恐怕他們滅絕我的兒子。」王說：「我指著永生的耶和華起誓：你的兒子連一根頭髮也不致落在地上。」
14:12 婦人說：「求我主我王容婢女再說一句話。」王說：「你說吧！」
14:13 婦人說：「王為何也起意要害上帝的民呢？王不使那逃亡的人回來，王的這話就是自證己錯了！
14:14 我們都是必死的，如同水潑在地上，不能收回。上帝並不奪取人的性命，乃設法使逃亡的人不致成為趕出、回不來的。
14:15 我來將這話告訴我主我王，是因百姓使我懼怕。婢女想，不如將這話告訴王，或者王成就婢女所求的。
14:16 人要將我和我兒子從上帝的地業上一同除滅，王必應允救我脫離他的手。
14:17 婢女又想，我主我王的話必安慰我；因為我主我王能辨別是非，如同上帝的使者一樣。惟願耶和華─你的上帝與你同在！」
14:18 王對婦人說：「我要問你一句話，你一點不要瞞我。」婦人說：「願我主我王說。」
14:19 王說：「你這些話莫非是約押的主意嗎？」婦人說：「我敢在我主我王面前起誓：王的話正對，不偏左右，是王的僕人約押吩咐我的，這些話是他教導我的。
14:20 王的僕人約押如此行，為要挽回這事。我主的智慧卻如上帝使者的智慧，能知世上一切事。」
14:21 王對約押說：「我應允你這事。你可以去，把那少年人押沙龍帶回來。」
14:22 約押就面伏於地叩拜，祝謝於王，又說：「王既應允僕人所求的，僕人今日知道在我主我王眼前蒙恩了。」
14:23 於是約押起身往基述去，將押沙龍帶回耶路撒冷。
14:24 王說：「使他回自己家裡去，不要見我的面。」押沙龍就回自己家裡去，沒有見王的面。
14:25 以色列全地之中，無人像押沙龍那樣俊美，得人的稱讚，從腳底到頭頂毫無瑕疵。
14:26 他的頭髮甚重，每到年底剪髮一次；所剪下來的，按王的平稱一稱，重二百舍客勒。
14:27 押沙龍生了三個兒子，一個女兒。女兒名叫她瑪，是個容貌俊美的女子。
14:28 押沙龍住在耶路撒冷足有二年，沒有見王的面。
14:29 押沙龍打發人去叫約押來，要託他去見王，約押卻不肯來。第二次打發人去叫他，他仍不肯來。
14:30 所以押沙龍對僕人說：「你們看，約押有一塊田，與我的田相近，其中有大麥，你們去放火燒了。」押沙龍的僕人就去放火燒了那田。
14:31 於是約押起來，到了押沙龍家裡，問他說：「你的僕人為何放火燒了我的田呢？」
14:32 押沙龍回答約押說：「我打發人去請你來，好託你去見王，替我說：『我為何從基述回來呢？不如仍在那裡。』現在要許我見王的面；我若有罪，任憑王殺我就是了。」
14:33 於是約押去見王，將這話奏告王，王便叫押沙龍來。押沙龍來見王，在王面前俯伏於地，王就與押沙龍親嘴。
Joab
son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. 2 So
Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to
her, “Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don’t use any
cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the
dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And
Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 When
the woman from Tekoa went[a] to the
king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said,
“Help me, Your Majesty!”
5 The
king asked her, “What is troubling you?”
She
said, “I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6 I your servant had
two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was
there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. 7 Now
the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, ‘Hand over the one
who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of
his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.’ They
would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither
name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”
8 The
king said to the woman, “Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf.”
9 But
the woman from Tekoa said to him, “Let my lord the king pardon me and my
family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt.”
10 The
king replied, “If anyone says anything to you, bring them to me, and they will
not bother you again.”
11 She
said, “Then let the king invoke the Lord
his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that
my son will not be destroyed.”
“As
surely as the Lord lives,” he
said, “not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
12 Then
the woman said, “Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.”
“Speak,”
he replied.
13 The
woman said, “Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of
God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not
brought back his banished son? 14 Like water spilled on the
ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God
desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain
banished from him.
15 “And
now I have come to say this 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
his servant’s request. 16 Perhaps the king will agree to
deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me
and my son from God’s inheritance.’
17 “And
now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king secure my inheritance,
for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May
the Lord your God be with you.’”
18 Then
the king said to the woman, “Don’t keep from me the answer to what I am going
to ask you.”
“Let
my lord the king speak,” the woman said.
19 The
king asked, “Isn’t the hand of Joab with you in 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 my lord the king says. Yes, it was your
servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the
mouth of your servant. 20 Your servant Joab did this to change
the present situation. My lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God—he knows
everything that happens in the land.”
21 The
king said to Joab, “Very well, I will do it. Go, bring back the young man
Absalom.”
22 Joab
fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king.
Joab said, “Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my
lord the king, because the king has granted his servant’s request.”
23 Then
Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But
the king said, “He must go to his own house; he must not see my face.” So
Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king.
25 In
all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as
Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish
in him. 26 Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he used to cut
his hair once a year because it became too heavy for him—he would weigh it, and
its weight was two hundred shekels[b] by the
royal standard.
27 Three
sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. His daughter’s name was Tamar, and
she became a beautiful woman.
28 Absalom
lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face. 29 Then
Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to
come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. 30 Then
he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley
there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
31 Then
Joab did go to Absalom’s house, and he said to him, “Why have your servants set
my field on fire?”
32 Absalom
said to Joab, “Look, I sent word to you and said, ‘Come here so I can send you
to the king to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if
I were still there!”’ Now then, I want to see the king’s face, and if I am
guilty of anything, let him put me to death.”
33 So
Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he
came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the
king kissed Absalom.
*************
押沙龍流亡在外，對大衛而言總是覺得不妥當，這樣的思念之情竟然被約押察覺，於是約押用計讓大衛允許押沙龍回到以色列來。然而王心中的怨恨可能還沒有過去，所以一直都不見押沙龍。
經過幾年後押沙龍受不了，就用燒田的方式讓約押來處理他和大衛的關係。從他這樣闖理事情的方式，發現他對上帝沒有信靠的心，完全是用自己的想法在做事情，不像他的父親大衛。
從押沙龍的身上我們看不見對上帝敬畏的樣式，所以他的言行我們不必太多的注意與探討，不過我們也可以從聖經的記載中慢慢明白，他後來為何會叛變！而他的美貌也是讓他自傲，反而是讓他走向敗亡的路！
從他的身上我們要學習做一個敬畏上帝的人，不要自傲和自以為是，求聖靈保守我們常在上帝的愛與憐憫之中！
