| 撒慕爾紀下 |
2 Samuel |
| 1上主對以色列又大發忿怒，遂激動達味去難為他們，並向他說：「你去統計以色列和猶大人口。」 |
1 The LORD'S anger against Israel flared again, and he incited David against the Israelites by prompting him to number Israel and Judah. |
| 2王遂對在自己身邊的約阿布和其餘的軍長說：「你們應走遍以色列各支派，由丹直到貝爾舍巴，統計人民，我好知道人民的數目。」 |
2Accordingly the king said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, "Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number." |
| 3約阿布對君王說：「願上主你的天主將目前的百姓增加百倍，願我主大王親見到！但我主大王，為什麼要行此事？」 |
3But Joab said to the king: "May the LORD your God increase the number of people a hundredfold for your royal majesty to see it with his own eyes. But why does it please my lord the king to order a thing of this kind?" |
| 4可是君王堅持向約阿布和眾軍長所出的命令，約阿布和眾軍長便離開君王，去統計以色列百姓。 |
4The king, however, overruled Joab and the leaders of the army, so they left the king's presence in order to register the people of Israel. |
| 5他們過了約但河，由阿洛厄爾及山谷間的城市開始，經過加得直到雅則爾， |
5Crossing the Jordan, they began near Aroer, south of the city in the wadi, and went in the direction of Gad toward Jazer. |
| 6而後來到基肋阿得及赫特人地方的刻德士，再由此到丹，轉到漆冬。 |
6They continued on to Gilead and to the district below Mount Hermon. Then they proceeded to Dan; from there they turned toward Sidon, |
| 7以後來到提洛的堡壘，希威人和客納罕人的各城，然後經過猶大南部，來到了貝爾舍巴。 |
7going to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and ending up at Beer-sheba in the Negeb of Judah. |
| 8他們走遍了全國，經過九個月零二十天，回了耶路撒冷。 |
8Thus they toured the whole country, reaching Jerusalem again after nine months and twenty days. |
| 9約阿布將統計人民的數目，呈報給君王：以色列能執刀的士兵，有八十萬人，猶大有五十萬人。 |
9Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand. |
| 10達味統計人民以後，心中感到不安，遂向上主說：「我做這事，實在犯了重罪。上主，現在我求你，赦免你僕人的罪，因為我所行的實在昏愚。」 |
10 Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the LORD: "I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish." |
| 11達味清早一起來，上主有話向先知加得──達味的先見者，說： |
11When David rose in the morning, the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying: |
| 12「你去告訴達味：上主這樣說：我給你提出三件事，任你選擇一件，我好向你實行。」 |
12"Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'" |
| 13加得來到達味前，告訴他說：「你要在國內三年饑荒呢？或是要三個月逃避趕你的敵人呢？或是要在國內發生三天瘟疫呢？現在請你考慮一下，決定我應向那派我來者回覆什麼。」 |
13Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me." |
| 14達味對加得說：「我很作難！我們寧願落在上主的手中，因為他富於仁慈，而不願落在人的手中。」 |
14David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man." |
| 15達味就揀選了瘟疫；正當收割麥子時，上主遂使瘟疫降於以色列，從早晨直到規定的時期，由丹直到貝爾舍巴，民間死了七萬人。 |
15Thus David chose the pestilence. Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. (The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.) |
| 16當時上主派一位使者往耶路撒冷去，要毀滅那城。達味看見那打擊人民的使者，遂向上主說：「是我犯了罪，行了不義，然而這些羊作了什麼？請你伸手打擊我和我的父家。」上主後悔降災，遂吩咐那毀滅人民的使者說：「夠了，現今收回你的手！」那時，上主的使者正站在耶步斯人敖爾難的打禾場上。 |
16But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. |
| 17那一天，加得來到達味前，對他說：「你上去，在耶步斯敖爾難的打禾場上，為上主建立一座祭壇。」 |
17 When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred." |
| 18達味便照加得奉上主所吩咐的話上去了。 |
18On the same day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." |
| 19敖爾難望見君王和他的臣僕向他走來，敖爾難就上前去，俯首至地叩拜君王， |
19Following Gad's bidding, David went up as the LORD had commanded. |
| 20說：「我主大王，為什麼到他僕人這裏來？」達味回答他說：「願向你買這禾場，給上主建立一座祭壇，為平息民間的災禍。」 |
20Now Araunah looked down and noticed the king and his servants coming toward him while he was threshing wheat. So he went out and paid homage to the king, with face to the ground. |
| 21敖爾難對達味說：「我主大王看着好的，就拿去祭獻罷！看，這裏有牛可作全燔祭，有打禾具和牛軛可作木柴。 |
21Then Araunah asked, "Why does my lord the king come to his servant?" David replied, "To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be checked among the people." |
| 22大王，敖爾難願將這一切獻於大王！」繼而又對君王說：「願上主你的天主悅納你的祭獻！」 |
22But Araunah said to David: "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever he may wish. Here are oxen for holocausts, and threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for wood. |
| 23君王對敖爾難說：「不成，我非用錢向你買不可，我不願用不化錢的全燔祭，獻給上主我的天主。」於是達味以五十「協刻耳」銀子，買了那塊打禾場和牛。 |
23All this does Araunah give to the king." Araunah then said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept your offering." |
| 24達味在那裏為上主建立了一座祭壇，奉獻了全燔祭與和平祭。這樣上主纔憐恤了那地，以色列間的災禍遂告平息。 |
24The king, however, replied to Araunah, "No, I must pay you for it, for I cannot offer to the LORD my God holocausts that cost nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty silver shekels. |
